Skip to content

Source Information

Jump to bottom
KatjaMellmann edited this page Jul 29, 2021 · 3 revisions

Original Source

The original publication the csv file refers to is:

Stith Thompson: Motif-Index of Folk-Literature. A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books, and Local Legends. Revised and enlarged ed. 6 vls. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press 1955-1958.

Digital Text

The digital text used for the csv file was downloaded from the online learning project:

"Unpacking World Folk-literature: Thompson's Motif Index, ATU's Tale Type Index, Propp's Functions and Lévi-Strauss's Structural Analysis for folk tales found around the world", https://sites.ualberta.ca/~urban/Projects/English/Motif_Index.htm. Curated and compiled from several sources by Shawn Urban, University of Alberta

It is an edited version of the text presented in the internet project:

"Фольклор и постфольклор: структура, типология, семиотика" [Folklore and post-folklore: structure, typology, semiotics], www.ruthenia.ru/folklore, http://www.ruthenia.ru/folklore/thompson/. Moderator: Никита Петров [Nikita Petrov], Institute for History and Philology & Centre for Typological and Semiotic Folklore Studies, Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow

The digitized text provided in this primary source had been established in the context of the following research projects:

  • "A reconstruction of prehistoric Eurasian mythological motif complexes and their most ancient distribution in connection with genetic data" 2007-2008, conducted by Юрий Березкин [Yurii Berezkin], Dept. of Anthropology, European University, St. Petersburg. Funded by the International Association for the promotion of cooperation with scientists from the independent states of the former Soviet Union (INTAS), project no. 05-1000008-7922
  • "Ареальная дистрибуция семантических элементов устных традиций (на примере фольклорa восточнославянских народов и народов Сибири)" [Areal distribution of semantic elements of oral traditions (on the example of folklore of East Slavic peoples and peoples of Siberia)] 2007-2009, conducted by Сергей Неклюдов [Sergei Neklyudov], Centre for Typological and Semiotic Folklore Studies, Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow. Funded by the Российский фонд фундаментальных исследований (РФФИ) [Russian Foundation for Basic Research, RFBR], project no. 06-06-80-420-a, https://www.rfbr.ru/rffi/ru/project_search/o_283450
  • "Мифы и языки: языковое родство и лингвистические границы как факторы формирования региональных комплексов фольклорно-мифологических мотивов" [Myths and languages: language relations and linguistic borders as factors in formation of regional sets of folklore-mythological complexes] 2007-2009, conducted by Юрий Березкин [Yurii Berezkin], Dept. of Anthropology, European University, St. Petersburg. Funded by the Российский фонд фундаментальных исследований (РФФИ) [Russian Foundation for Basic Research, RFBR], project no. 07-06-00441-а, https://www.rfbr.ru/rffi/ru/project_search/o_57352

I have no information about whether the digitization was based on the CD-ROM edition by the original publisher:

Stith Thompson: Motif-Index of Folk-Literature. A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jestbooks, and Local Legends. CD-ROM. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press 1993. (Cf. Allen Smith: JAL Guide to Software, Courseware and CD-ROM. [Stith Thompson’s Motif-Index of Folk Literature. / Directory of Library Automation Sofware, & Services.] In: Journal of Academic Librarianship 20 (1994), no. 4, 255-256.)

A different digital version is currently being established at Wikisource. As it will also include the cross-references (omitted in the above mentioned versions), future endeavors may prefer to use that one.

CSV file

In building the present csv file, I have slightly edited the text. Specifically, I have

  • restored some special characters, and sporadically corrected errors where I came across them;
  • integrated the "Additions and Corrections" indicated at the end of vls. V & VI of the printed edition;
  • added footnotes of the printed edition (search string "[Note:").

Furthermore, I created two additional code fields/columns:

  • one in which Thompson's alpha-numeric codes are extended by "0"s as to be sortable in correct order in a "text" field definition;
  • another one indicating the equivalents in the first edition (including the "Additions and Corrections" in V 439-448).

screenshot 1

screenshot 2

The csv file is encoded as UTF-8 and deploys comma (,) as field separator and quotation marks (") as field surrounding.

It may be cited as:

Katja Mellmann: Thompson's Motif-Index as CSV File. Open Science Framework (OSF), 2020. DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/XEB67.

Clone this wiki locally