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ArchivesRe: What is the difference between a variant and a corruption of a name?
in reply to a message by I like old names
I don't know about policies on this board, but at The American Name Society several years ago we decided that the word "corruption" was pejorative, prejudicial, and unprofessional in this context, and should not be used. So at our meetings we talk about "variants", "derivatives", "alternative forms", "nontraditional spellings", etc., and avoid the word "corruption".
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from a linguistics point of view, "corruption" should only be used where a recorded form (not a form in regular use) degrades the data (e.g. when an OCR program or copyist records an "e" as a "c", or an "s" as an "e" for example; or when a list accidentally truncates a name to a form not actually in use).
This message was edited 5/13/2021, 7:07 AM
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Good point, though even then I think "mistaken" or "erroneous" would be better than "corruption", which can be interpreted as if there was a bad motive on the part of whoever "corrupted" the name.
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