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In addition to the Leiden symbols, the following are also used:
| ⸢abc⸣ | ⸢ (U+2E2): top left half bracket; ⸣ (U+2E23): top right half bracket. | These enclose text which has not been transmitted in the document being transcribed, but which is preserved in another textual witness of the same text. |
| ⸦abc⸧ [Latin epigraphy only] | ⸦ (U+2E26): left sideways U bracket; ⸧ (U+2E27): right sideways U bracket. | Various uses. Among other things, these brackets indicate the use of Claudian letters. (Claudian letters are now encoded in Unicode as Ⅎ (U+2132), ⅎ (U+214E), Ↄ (U+2183), ↄ (U+2184), Ⱶ (U+2C75), ⱶ (U+2C76), so use of these brackets for Claudian letters will become intermittent.) Also, to indicate resolution of left-pointing, mirrored letter forms; resolution of the symbol for the name Manius; and to enclose the description of a picture found in an inscription. |
| ⸨abc⸩ [Latin epigraphy only] | ⸨ (U+2E28): left double parenthesis; ⸩ (U+2E29): right double parenthesis. | Used by some in lieu of ⸦ ⸧. |
| [abc] | [ (U+005B): left square bracket; ] (U+005D): right square bracket. | Note that in editions of ‘literary’ texts, square brackets [ ] often enclose text which the editor deems a mistaken addition by a scribe, not text which is not transmitted in the document, as in papyrology and epigraphy. |
| †corrupt text† | † ‘cross of despair’ (U+2020): dagger. | The † or ‘crux desperationis’ indicates that the word or textual string so marked is considered to be irredeemably corrupt by the modern editor of the text. Two cruces be used to enclose corrupt text consisting of one word or more: †corrupt text†. |
Conversion to typeset text
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These symbols cannot be globally replaced if < is also used by the author to indicate ‘(is derived) from’, and/or > is used to denote ‘becomes, changes to’. This dual use occurs regularly.
[[]] (two opening square brackets, two closing square brackets) used to enclose text deleted in the ancient document but still legible or restorable.
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