Q: Origin and extension of "Finger-Fehler"

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>
> I assume "Finger-Fehler" was created for chess.  When did it become
> extended to describe a typing error?
>
> Or is this the wrong list because it's German?
-

If it's used repeatedly in English, it's English, I guess, at least sort of.

I just did a superficial Gugelblick.

Of course "fingerfehler" is English-language (and interlingual) chess
jargon for a long time, just like "zugzwang", "j'adoube", "en passant", etc.

Outside chess, I see the expression from 1982 (ostensibly) at G. Books,
from 1994 at G. Groups. Also from 1965 (ostensibly) at G. Books (with
disgusting snippet) apparently referring to a typing error but in a
chess context.

"Fingerfehler" (= "finger error") ~ "lapsus digiti" ~ "slip of the finger".

There is an alternative "Handfehler" ~ "lapsus manus" (sometimes "lapsus
manu" [error?]) ~ "slip of the hand".

Cf. "Zungenfehler" ~ "lapsus linguae" ~ "slip of the tongue", the model,
maybe, at least in English.

Also "lapsus calami" ~ "slip of the pen" = "writing error", "lapsus
clavis" ~ "slip of the key" = "typing error" (this apparently more
popular in Romance languages, and only recent).

I suppose the use of a Germanism instead of a Latinism likely is
influenced by the chess term.

I've never heard/read "fingerfehler" in non-chess-related English
myself, but it seems transparent enough, I guess.

Do Anglophones usually pronounce the /g/? It seems to me that at least
some do, but it's been a while since I've heard it and I may misremember.

-- Doug Wilson

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