‘Transferring’ Shorthand Notes to Longhand Transcript

Abstract

This chapter discusses the scant evidence for the effects of the process of transcribing shorthand notes taken down during council sessions into a longhand record. It identifies a unique case where the original notes may still be reconstructed and can demonstrate their transcription as an act of interpretative ‘translation’ into the final wording. Analogous practices and their effects may be expected on other occasions. Additionally, paratextual notes surviving in some manuscripts of the Chalcedonian acts are decoded and discussed as potentially pertaining to the processes of transcription, control, and copying, and in this way opening a window into the usually hidden practical execution of these steps.