source texts
Primary reference materials
Source texts are the original documents or materials that serve as the basis for translation, adaptation, quotation, or scholarly analysis.
In translation work, the source text is what gets rendered into another language, as opposed to the target text that results.
Researchers and writers cite source texts to support their arguments or provide evidence.
The term emphasizes authenticity and origin—these are the primary materials rather than derivative or secondary interpretations.
- documentWritten or electronic file
- translationConverting between languages
- lost in translationMeaning altered between languages
- manuscriptOriginal text before publication
- originalFirst or inventive
master copy · philology · original language · dynamic equivalence · interpretation · autograph · intertextuality · contents · urtext · words · copies · adaptation · close reading · recension · Septuagint · hermeneutics · apparatus · historical manuscripts
source textsderivative works
Works based on originals
secondary sources · summaries · analyses · commentaries · interpretations
source textsfinal drafts
Finished written versions
end products · finished products · translations · deliverables
source, texts, text, sources, sourced, sourcing, textual, textile, textiles