lapsus oculi
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin lapsus oculi.
Noun
lapsus oculi
- An error that results from looking in the wrong place, especially one that occurs while copying or translating a body of text.
- 1970, Klearchos, page 100:
- The straightforward and economical explanation of this mistake is a lapsus oculi on the part of the mason triggered by the structural similarity in his draft of the local freak beta and the mu which immediately followed it.
- 1998, Norma Bouchard & Veronica Pravadelli, Umberto Eco's Alternative, →ISBN, page 100:
- Was it a simple lapsus oculi on the part of the translator, a kind of scribal error that led to an involuntary deletion?
- 2014, William Heath Robinson & K.R.G. Browne, How to be a Motorist, →ISBN:
- Well, if what he runs into is the comely member, all may turn out for the best, as more than one romance has burgeoned in a Cottage Hospital. If, on the other hand, it is the local reservoir or a passing pantechnicon, he will probably regret his lapsus oculi (I think).
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