nihilartikel
/ˈnaɪ.(h)ɪlˌɑɹt.ɪkl̩/
nihilartikel means A deliberately fictitious entry in an encyclopedia or academic work, generally identifiable as false, usually included to brand the intellectual property so copies can be identified. It carries an Arena rating of 1345, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, nihilartikel ranks #27 of 13,225 for Most Satisfying to Say, #304 of 13,225 for Most Incisive Words, #362 of 13,225 for The Improbable, #403 of 13,225 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
nihilartikel is pronounced /ˈnaɪ.(h)ɪlˌɑɹt.ɪkl̩/.
Why “nihilartikel” is a great word
A deliberately fictitious entry inserted into an encyclopedia or reference work to serve as a copyright trap or hoax. From the German Nihilartikel, itself a blend of the Latin nihil ("nothing") and the German Artikel ("article"), coined as a hoax in the German-language Wikipedia in 2003. Unlike a "mountweazel" (which is the specific fictitious entry itself) or a "ghost word" (which emerges from error, not design), a nihilartikel is a meta-fraud, a forgery that names its own act. It is the phantom town on a cartographer’s map, the fabricated biography of a forgotten painter, the invented chemical compound in a pharmaceutical index—a small, crafted void left in the edifice of knowledge, waiting to prove that the structure has been stolen.
Etymology
Borrowed from German Nihilartikel, apparently coined as a hoax in the German-language Wikipedia in 2003 and later picked up by the English Wikipedia, from where it spread to blogs, books, etc., which are now used again as references for these sites, leading to a form of citogenesis.
noun
- A deliberately fictitious entry in an encyclopedia or academic work, generally identifiable as false, usually included to brand the intellectual property so copies can be identified.“2005 May 1, Eve Maler, “The Language Log”, Pushing String, at www.xmlgrrl.com https://web.archive.org/web/20061111100505/http://www.xmlgrrl.com/blog/archives/2005/05/01/the-language-log/
The post never does find the word it’s looking for, but it eventually alights on a discussion of the Nihilartikel, a fake dictionary or encyclopedia entry created for playful or copyright-trap reasons.”
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