On the Creation of the World (De opificio mundi) - Page 18

...[this text] was derived from a very ancient archetype|The original manuscript from which later copies are made, which was transcribed around 380 AD from a papyrus codex in the library of Caesarea. It is impossible to say how many copies might have existed between that original archetype and our Manuscript V. However, it can be demonstrated that the specific copy from which Manuscript V was transcribed was written in majuscule letters|Large, capital-style lettering used in ancient manuscripts. We know this because of a very common type of error where letters of the old script that look nearly identical are confused with one another. Examples of this found in Manuscript V include:

page 3,14: “then he named” original: eit’ ephēmisen instead of “he named” original: EPEPHĒMISEN. In ancient capitals, the first two letters EP could be misread as the word for 'then'.
5,12: “shores” instead of “harbors” The Greek letters Alpha (Α) and Lambda (Λ) were often confused.
15,14: “to be received” instead of “to be said” Confusion between Delta (Δ) and Lambda (Λ).
16,12: “that... besides” instead of “four”
21,11: “unbroken” instead of “unmixed”
29,12: “under the vessels” instead of “guilty”
30,3: “suspended” instead of “destroyed”
31,3: “beams of light” instead of “rages”
32,7: “to you” instead of “divine”

Similarly, the use of uncial script|A specific style of large, rounded capital letters in that older model explains why individual words in Manuscript V are often incorrectly separated or written as one continuous string. Furthermore, accents and other punctuation marks are frequently misplaced or omitted entirely. For example:

3,12: “these things being” instead of “the same thing being in the...”
4,6: “remaining” instead of “on the one hand, being”
4,8: “mixed toward” instead of “mixed”
4,9: “the even, the odd” instead of “even-odd”
4,19: “if guilty” instead of “innocent”
5,1: “toward he modeled” instead of “he modeled beforehand”
10,3: “if he shut out” instead of “he shut out”
22,4: “I call everything” instead of “entirely beautiful”
23,6: “a certain art” instead of “an artist”
25,9: “these things if” instead of “these things”
27,4: “indeed” instead of “but the...”

Such errors seem to be the fault of the scribe who wrote Manuscript V. However, even that older uncial codex was not free from mistakes. Very often, the letters i (ι), ē (η), and ei (ει) are confused; it is well known that no error is more frequent than this in ancient papyri This vowel confusion is known as itacism, where different Greek vowels began to be pronounced like the English "ee".. For example: “having been moved,” “of motion,” and “moving” are written with ei instead of i; likewise “idea” is written with ei; and we see “was modeled,” “to us,” “foundations,” “partitioning off,” “it had weighed heavy,” “now,” “parts,” “stretching out,” “second prizes,” “dances,” “striving,” “motions,” “fountains,” “rams,” “weighing down,” and “attainable” all appearing with vowel substitutions.

These are relatively minor errors. However, more serious corruptions also occur. Some of these appear in all or several surviving manuscripts, while others have crept only into the Vienna manuscript (Vindobonensis). See, for example: 1,3 “including besides” and “multitude”; 2,17 “he knew because”; 3,7 “eagerly contended for”; 4,15 “itself”; 5,12 “of a temple; houses”; 9,18 “recovery”; 13,17 “all” (instead of “again”); 13,22 “who” (instead of “what sort”); 31,14 “and if”...