Oracc ATF Primer

A very quick start to get you up and running with your first ATF texts by giving some annotated examples.

Example 1

Let's start with an example:

&P348865 = SpTU 5, 283
#project: cams
#atf: lang akk-x-ltebab
#atf: use unicode


@tablet

@obverse
1.	ṭup-pi! E₂ ep-šu₂ sip-pu rak-su E₂ rug-gu-bu
2.	{giš}IG SAG.KUL kun-nu KI{+ti₃} {id₂}har ša₂ {d}NA₃
$ single ruling
3.	40?# ina 1 KUŠ₃ US₂ AN.TA {tu₁₅}SI.SA₂ DA E₂ ša₂ 

The various ATF features illustrated here are:

The &-line

Every text begins with an &-line giving the ID and the text's designation according to the CDLI catalog; if your text is not yet in the catalog, e-mail cdli@cdli.ucla.edu or osc@oracc.org to get the ID and designation.

#project: cams

It is mandatory that you specify the project that the text belongs to. The ATF file is not valid if this line is omitted, as the #project line sends essential information to the server and is used for validation and lemmatisation. In addition, this line must come before the #atf protocol lines.

#atf: lang akk-x-stdbab

You need to specify the main language and dialect for the text; for Sumerian just write #atf: lang sux.

#atf: use unicode

You can specify that the transliteration is in Unicode (with š, ṣ, ṭ, etc and subscript numerals); if you omit this line then the transliteration must be in ASCII (with sz, s,, and t, and full-size numerals). We strongly recommend that all new ATF files use Unicode for Oracc. CDLI ATF continues to use ASCII.

@tablet

You can specify an object type; this is normally @tablet, but others include @bulla and @envelope.

@obverse, @reverse

You can specify the part of the object you are transliterating; the edges are given using: @left @right @top @bottom.

Lines of text

Lines of text are for the most part just like regular Assyriological practice. See Example 2 for how to do breakage.

Logograms

Logograms can be simply entered as uppercase as is natural in transliterations of Akkadian.

Determinatives, phonetic complements and glosses

Determinatives are given in curly brackets.

Phonetic complements and glosses are marked with a + immediately after the first curly bracket; they are assumed to be in the same language as the rest of the word.

Rulings

Lines ruled on the tablet as paragraph separators, etc., can be marked with $-lines ("dollar-lines").

Numbers

Sexagesimal (base 60) numbers that just use the DIŠ and U signs are transliterated as regular numerals. Numbers in other metrological systems are explicitly qualified as in 1(disz). See the numbers page and the mathematics page for more information (or the numbers and metrology in CDLI page as appropriate).

You can see here [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/cams/gkab/P348865] how the entire text appears online in CAMS.

Example 2

&P348658 = SpTU 2, 055
#project: cams
#atf: lang akk-x-ltebab
#atf: use unicode


@tablet

@obverse
1.	ṭup-pi A.ŠA₃ ki-šub-ba#-[a ...]
2.	{id₂}har-ri ša₂ {d}MUATI? x [...]
3.	ša₂ qe₂-reb UNUG#[{ki}]

Damage and breakage

There are no half-brackets in ATF: signs which are damaged are flagged with the hash-sign (#) after the grapheme.

Signs which are completely broken away are placed in square brackets; square brackets may not occur inside a grapheme, only before or after it. The ellipsis (...) may be used to indicate that an undeterminable number of signs is missing.

Signs which cannot be identified are transliterated as x; when a number is missing the convention is to use n as in n(disz).

Querying, Correction and Collation

The other flags are the query (?) which can be placed after a grapheme to indicate uncertainty of reading; the asterisk (*) which indicates a collated reading; and the exclamation mark which indicates correction. After a corrected sign, the actual sign on the tablet may optionally be given: a! or ki!(DI).

You can see here [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/cams/gkab/P348658] how the entire text appears online in CAMS.

Example 3

This shows a Sumerian text with non-sexagesimal numbers, transliterated in ASCII.

&P100099 = AAS 113
#atf: lang sux
@tablet
@obverse
1. 1(ban2) kasz 1(ban2) [...]
2. 1(disz) sila3 [...]
3. 1(u)? [...] gesz
4. 1(barig) kasz#? [...] x [...]
5. 3(ban2) [x]
6. nam-ha-ni sagi
7. {d}gu-la
8. mu-da-gen-na-a
9. iti sze-kar-ra-gal2-la

Steve Tinney & Eleanor Robson

Steve Tinney & Eleanor Robson, 'Oracc ATF Primer', Oracc: The Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus, Oracc, 2019 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/doc/help/editinginatf/primer/]