Different Approaches to Dealing with Anonymous Manuscripts: Samples from Literary and Linguistic Manuscripts

Abstract

The study examines the issue of anonymous manuscripts in Arab heritage by analyzing how editors and cataloguers deal with them, particularly in terms of description and standardization of bibliographic data. It argues that the absence of an author’s name is not a major obstacle to scholarly editing, but rather an opportunity to apply varied methodological approaches to uncover the text’s identity and its intellectual and historical context. An integrative methodology is used, combining descriptive-analytical, historical-critical, and comparative approaches. The study investigates a sample of linguistic and literary manuscripts preserved in southern Algerian collections, focusing on their physical characteristics, scholarly features, and cataloguing records. It also reviews how both classical and modern scholars have treated issues of attribution and verification. The findings show that many manuscripts still require rigorous scholarly editing and represent valuable sources for revisiting linguistic and literary issues in Arab heritage. The study stresses the need for more precise methodological tools and stronger collaboration between editors and cataloguers to build reliable databases that preserve and disseminate this heritage globally.