I once knew this term - it means ‘the presentation is the same as the historical version’, and refers specifically to theatrical production.
Synonym for ‘definitive’, but industry-specific.
The specific case: The opening scene in Showboat! which has been Bowdlerized for language.
5 minutes after posting, I’ll remember it. :smack:
There’s the “canonical” version, which, however, isn’t quite the “original” version, but the version everyone has come to agree upon over time.
“Holographic,” perhaps? The hand-written original?
‘Canonical’ is very close, and my mind might have wandered, but it doesn’t fully ‘click’ for me.
I want to think it begins with a softer sound - f or v or maybe l.
Just went through a dictionary of theatrical terms - ‘loge’ (aka ‘lodge’) was there, but no reference to versions of plays.
It has the sense of ‘Ultimate Authority’ - the kind of thing in which nobody can deny that it is correct.
“The ____________ answer is X, but for you are probably thinking of Y” kind of thing.
I don’t know that it is industry specific but there is the German prefix ‘Ur’ that you could use.
TCMF-2L
You don’t mean folio do you? As in Shakespeare’s First Folio.
As in Urtext.
He may but the word has no connotation of originality. It’s simply a printing format, eg octavo, quarto, folio. It has to do with the size of paper used. Many of Shakespeare’s plays were published individually in quarto form before the 1622 collected edition published in the much larger folio size.
Unexpurgated is a cromulent word for the situation you describe.
My, but that was a great response, but - no, it does not have the sense of ‘uncut’, just ultimate, un-disputable, in the sense of ‘back when everybody knew the subject’, or ‘if you want to get technical’ - it is a pedant’s delight.
Oh well, my spelling has gone to Hell, so my memory can’t be too far behind.
Well, there’s “seminal,” which carries the sense of the original original, but that’s more of the first to tell the story. There’s an original Hamlet written by Shakespeare, but the seminal Hamlet story is the legend of Amleth.
An even better (more obscure) word.
May have to settle for seminal - but damn, I want something that makes me say Eureka!
Doesn’t exactly fit the definition but kind of similar and begins with one of the letters you specified so I’m submitting it for your consideration: verbatim.
Could it be that?
I was focussing more on the reference to bowdlerization. Looking forward to learning the mystery word!
When I’ve seen this situation (minus the bowdlerization) referenced in reviews, I can’t think of a given word, but phrases like “a faithful remounting/recreation/etc. of the original production” or something like that.
Nope: verbatim means “exact same words”.
Looks like I will go to my crematorium* without finding this silly word.
As I was busy (trying to) elsewhere, the word ‘seminal’ popped into mind.
This must be it, and it just took a while to come to mind.
Thanks for all the suggestions, folks!
I think seminal means something more to do with influence - e.g., an inspiration for some new development or style adopted widely by others (obviously, given the metaphor!)
For the sense of an undisputed original, my first thought was urtext, as suggested above.
I think “authoritative manuscript” or “urtext” are the most likely to be used, with slightly different implications for each.
Musicologist (ex) here: ditto urtext.
But the word, particularly in the performing arts and depending on culture and time, could be suspect unless qualified: the “original text” of a Shakespeare play, say, may never be known, as there may never have been one, and Shakespeare would have understood that inevitability.
The state of “Ur”-nes-- of the medieval opus perfectum (a completed “perfect” work, from which we get “Opus” numbers for composers)–has been a matter of historical inquiry of the arts for only a few centuries.
Not to say that some artistic creators wouldn’t disagree.
This post made me feel exceedingly gruntled. 