"Ghostwords"

[Robert Whiting]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
On Mon, 8 Jun 1998 Jim Rader <jrader at m-w.com> wrote:
>
> In lexicography entities like this are sometimes broadly referred to as
> ghost words, though that term perhaps more usually covers false lemmas
> that arise from manuscript misreadings or editorial errors.
<snip>
>
>>
<snip>
>> What is the term (if there is one) for a "false" word inadvertently
>> created by later generations, perhaps by misreading a text?
<snip>
>>
>> Blaine Erickson
>> erickson at hawaii.edu
 
In cuneiform studies, false lemmata are often referred to as 'phantoms'
(presumably based more closely on French 'mot phantome').  False lemmata
are not infrequent in this field, usually resulting from the misreading
or misinterpretation of a cuneiform sign.  In this case, though, the
misinterpretation leading to the false lemma has not been made by
a native speaker of the language (there being none left).
 
I would see this as different, however, from a 'ghost' word such as
modern English <ye> used as an archaizing writing for 'the', but
pronounced /ye:/ (as in Ye Olde Gifte Shoppe), which is based on early
typesetters' use of <y> as the letter most closely resembling the
English letter _thorn_.  On the other hand, ye is not really a ghost
since it does have an existence, albeit a very limited one.
 
 
Bob Whiting
whiting at cc.helsinki.fi