A while ago, I remember reading of an incredibly obscure word that meant something like: “a phrase or sentence that is repeated in a text as a result faithful copying of an earlier text, which earlier text mistakenly repeated that phrase or sentence when transcribed from an even earlier text”.
I seem to remember the word was useful when studying the origin of a particular book or edition (such as very old bibles for example) because it allowed researchers to figure out which book was copied from what.
Can anyone enlighten me?