"Since the normal tendency is to simplify, to trivialize, to eliminate the unfamiliar word or construction, the rule is praestat difficilior lectio...When we choose the 'more difficult' reading, however, we must be sure that it is in itself a plausible reading. The principle should not be used in support of dubious syntax, or phrasing that it would not have been natural for the author to use. There is an important difference between a more difficult reading and a more unlikely reading."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
University of Oxford facultyUniversity of Oxford alumniPhilologistsClassical scholarsFellows of the British Academy
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Textual Criticism and Editorial Technique Applicable to Greek and Latin Texts (Stuttgart: B. G. Teubner, 1973) p. 51. Footnote: The principle was clearly enunciated by Clericus, Ars Critica (Amsterdam, 1696) vol. ii, p. 293. For earlier hints of it see S. Timpanaro, La Genesi del metodo del Laachmann (Florence, 1963), p. 21, n. 1
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Litchfield_West
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Martin Litchfield West
Martin Litchfield West, OM, FBA (23 September 1937 – 13 July 2015) was a British philologist and classical scholar. In recognition of his contribution to scholarship, he was appointed to the Order of Merit in 2014.
1 quote on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Martin Litchfield West →
Related Quotes
"The twentieth century had conclusively settled the question of how a society should be organised: liberal democracy, …"
"For James, there was no sense that expanding Tesco’s sales onto the web was what the human race urgently needed. It d…"
"It was insane that you had to pretend to be interested in your job and use these lame phrases like “pinging things ov…"
"James had assumed this would be a task of meticulous detection, of inefficiencies brilliantly uncovered, but there wa…"
"James was twenty- seven and never had a boss again. Until that moment, he and Roland had lived as employees, as if in…"
"James said that in years to come, when the company had swelled to thousands, people would brag about having been on t…"
"It was as if they were together in their campaign tent, studying the map and deciding where to deploy their regiments."
"This was what it must be like when the winners of some shitty trophy in Slovenia qualified for the Champions League a…"
"Abbreviations are the wheels of language, the wings of Mercury. And though we might be dragged along without them, it…"
"England hath been accounted hitherto the most renowned kingdom for valour and manhood in all Christendom; and shall w…"