Stemmatic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Connected with stemma or diagrams representing relationships in family trees ; associated with the study of the manuscript tradition and the reconstruction of textual history
2. Referring to the structure or form of genealogical charts ; concerned with the analysis and comparison of ancient texts to determine their origin and transmission
3. Involving stemmatic methods, which organize relationship trees ; relating to the critical examination of manuscript lines to trace their development and variants

Etymology: Ancient Greek "stemma" meant a garland or wreath, from "stephein," to wreathe or crown. Latin borrowed it, and Latin writers also used it for a family pedigree, since a genealogical chart spreads out like leafy branches from a single root. The image of a crown of ancestors made a neat metaphor for a family tree. Much later, textual scholars borrowed the sense for manuscripts. Editors of ancient and medieval texts grouped surviving copies by the errors they shared, and drew diagrams showing which copy descended from which lost original. Karl Lachmann, a German philologist, championed this approach to Latin classics, and Paul Maas later set out its principles systematically. These diagrams are called stemmas, and the adjective, formed by adding "-ic," describes methods built on them.