CODECS: The perfect resource for Celtic students

Imagine that you’re writing a paper on a medieval Celtic text, and you want to know what has already been published on that text. Or, you are doing a course on medieval Irish palaeography, and you get confused by the insular script (been there). Fear not, because CODECS (Collaborative Online Database and e-Resources for Celtic Studies), is here! CODECS is a great resource for everyone engaged with Celtic studies, and it can make your time as a student a whole lot easier. Therefore, you find a useful guide of using CODECS below, so you can see all the great things it has to offer!

What is CODECS?

CODECS, an acronym for Collaborative Online Database and e-Resources for Celtic Studies, is an online platform published by the A. G. van Hamel Foundation for Celtic Studies. The A.G. van Hamel Foundation is a non-profit organisation based in the Netherlands. Named after the Dutch celticist who established the Chair of Celtic Studies at Utrecht University in 1923, the organisation promotes the study of Celtic languages and culture, particularly in the Netherlands. It aims to contribute to further flourishing of these studies and making them accessible to the public. Part of representing Celtic studies is done via the platform CODECS, which is founded and maintained by Dennis Groenewegen. It started in 2010 with a wiki platform with different separate project names. The name *selgā was used for the bibliography, while *datlā was used for the catalogue of texts and manuscripts. Over time, these names have phased out, and in 2013, the whole project altogether was called CODECS. And it has been CODECS ever since.

 

Afbeelding met tekst, schermopname, ontwerp Door AI gegenereerde inhoud is mogelijk onjuist.

Figure 1. Home page of CODECS

The database

CODECS is a catalogue or database of varying sources related to the field of Celtic studies. Its sources range from manuscripts and specific texts to secondary literature. Every source has an entry that includes detailed information, including references to primary and secondary sources, as well as practical details of the source (for example, in the case of a specific text, you are directed to its manuscript and folio numbers). See below a random example of what kind of information is available about a source












Figure 2. Entry for Muirchú's Vita s. Patricii

Additionally, you can find in some instances an extended list of literature written on a text (the list is actually longer than you can see in the figure below!):

Figure 3. Entry for Muirchú's Vita s. Patricii and selection of suggested sources

The list of publications as well as the bibliographical details provided for each text are especially useful when you need to compile a bibliography for your paper. You can simply copy the details from the CODECS entry and put that information in your own preferred citation style. A real time-saver!

Delw y Byd

While the bibliographical information on CODECS has a slight preference towards pre-modern Irish and Hiberno-Latin sources, mainly because of time limitations and particular interests of editors, there are also very useful entries on Welsh sources. The entry of Delw y Byd, for example, is very extended. In the index for text items, you can easily see where you can find certain chapters in manuscripts, editions, and articles. That makes writing a paper suddenly a lot easier!

Tionscadal na Nod

Tionscadal na Nod (loosely translated as ‘The Scribal Abbreviation Project’) is another project under the umbrella of CODECS, and it saved my life during my medieval Celtic palaeography course. The project brings together hundreds of illustrative examples of Irish handwriting, helping readers recognise letters, abbreviations, and ligatures found in medieval Irish manuscripts. The project currently contains 389 entries using 522 examples of Irish scribal writing copied by Dennis King and Dennis Groenewegen from several manuscripts. When you visit the project’s page on the CODECS website, you first get the opportunity to browse random characters:

Afbeelding met tekst, schermopname, Lettertype, document Door AI gegenereerde inhoud is mogelijk onjuist.

Figure 4. Home page of Tionscadal na Nod

And if that isn’t already cool enough, you can also search specifically for letters, punctuation marks, or other kinds of strokes and symbols. The project even lets you click on an image of a symbol to view more details, such as related entries and manuscript sources.

Afbeelding met tekst, schermopname, nummer, Lettertype Door AI gegenereerde inhoud is mogelijk onjuist.

Figure 5. Entry for alphabetical symbol ‘d’

Afbeelding met tekst, schermopname, Lettertype, software Door AI gegenereerde inhoud is mogelijk onjuist.

Figure 6. Entry for the abbreviation of ghniom

If you don’t know exactly where to look, you can go to the Gallery. There, you can view all 522 symbols in one glance and click on the one that most closely resembles the symbol you’re looking for!

Miscellaneous resources

The CODECS website also offers additional resources, often contributed by others as the platform is open for scholars who are looking for a place for their projects. Among these projects is Karel Jongeling’s extensive personal bibliography of Welsh linguistic studies, which can be used for finding publications on Welsh linguistics. Another additional resource is the Breton-Dutch-Breton dictionary, authored by Jan Deloof. This is a great contribution to promoting Celtic studies in the Netherlands and making the study of Breton more accessible here!

TEI XML workbench

In the meantime, several technical projects are underway, even if most of their results are not directly visible to visitors of the website yet. One project that’s a bit more concrete is the TEI XML Workbench. TEI XML has become a standardised format for encoding texts in the field of humanities. Basically, it is a way to create a standard format for digital versions of texts. While many websites within the field of Celtic studies share texts in TEI format, there are still many texts that need to be transcribed. There is also a need for platforms that enable people to collaboratively edit and publish these texts, so digital editions and translations can be shared in a consistent and standardised way. The TEI XML workbench is being developed to provide that kind of collaborative place!

So, these are some basic features of CODECS! I hope this blog post encourages you to explore the website a bit further and see how it can help you in your research and studies, as it has a lot to offer. CODECS has been appreciated and praised by students and scholars all over the world, and with continued support, it can keep thriving as the perfect resource for Celtic studies!

Have fun exploring!


Marieke Rotman
Utrecht University


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