What to do about quotations with spelling errors

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Wed, Jun 04, 2014 at 04:34:23PM -0400, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
> I was asked to investigate a quotation attributed to Jean Piaget. The
> earliest evidence I have located is in a translation created by
> Eleanor Duckworth of a remark spoken by Jean Piaget. The translation
> was published in an education journal in 1964, but it contains a
> spelling error, I believe:
>
> [ref] 1964 November, The Arithmetic Teacher, Volume 11, Number 7,
> Piaget rediscovered by Eleanor Duckworth, Start Page 496, Quote Page
> 499, Published by National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (JSTOR)
> link [/ref]
>
> http://www.jstor.org/stable/41186862
>
> [Begin original text excerpt]
> The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of
> doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have
> done—men who are creative, inventive, and discoverers.
> [End original text excerpt]
>
> The phrase "principle goal" probably should be "principal goal".  I
> plan to use "principal goal" in the website article. In addition, the
> following note will be added to the footnote citation for the excerpt:
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> (The original text contained the phrase "principle goal" which was
> incorrect. The phrase has been changed to "principal goal")
> [End excerpt]

No.

> Alternatively a "sic" could be inserted in the text. But the error was
> not made by Piaget who was speaking not writing. Indeed, he was not
> even speaking in English.

Yes. The text is what it is; you don't alter it because you think you
know better, even if you acknowledge it with a footnote. You quote
what's there, and then explain _that_ (with "[sic]" or a footnote or
something else).

Piaget is not the originator of the exact text you quote; the translator
is. But that's a separate issue. You're obviously going to acknowledge
that the quotation originates in a remark by Piaget.

Jesse Sheidlower

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