This paper proposes a practical two-level reference system for Hebrew-script New Testament manuscripts, a small and widely dispersed corpus that includes Hebrew, Yiddish, Aramaic/Syriac, Judaeo-Arabic, and other texts written in Hebrew characters. It distinguishes between a reader-facing short citation form, such as Cambridge 132, and a compact census code, such as CAM132. The system was developed to address the difficulty of citing related witnesses whose full repository identifications and shelfmarks are cumbersome in prose, tables, footnotes, concordances, and oral discussion. It is designed to clarify references to manuscript groups such as the Cochin-related witnesses and the Shem Tov Even Boḥan Matthew tradition without replacing official repository shelfmarks, collection or fonds information, Ktiv and SfarData identifiers, microfilm numbers, or established editorial sigla. The paper explains the terminology, formation rules, city-code conventions, treatment of complex shelfmarks and fragments, worked examples, limitations, digital implementation, and possible application to other small manuscript corpora. The proposed system is intended as a transparent and stable working convention rather than a universal registry. Version 1.0, July 2026. Preprint; not peer reviewed.
Pamela Lutzker (Sun,) studied this question.