海角大神

It began with an innocent question: An important tax document had been sent to an old address and then returned to sender.

The sender, when contacted, agreed to resend the document, to the new address. But meanwhile, I was told, I could get what I needed online. But my (incorrect) initial understanding was that the downloaded document was merely a 鈥渃opy,鈥� not a full-service substitute.

鈥淒on鈥檛 I need the original to submit with my 1040?鈥� I asked.

Well, no, it turns out. But the exchange got me thinking about copy in the sense of replica or mere imitation and the same word used to mean 鈥� what? I鈥檓 stuck here because there鈥檚 no ready synonym.

What I鈥檓 getting at is copy in the sense of 鈥渁n instance鈥� of something. When you ask, 鈥淒o you have your own copy of the book, or shall I lend you mine?鈥� you鈥檙e using copy in a sense different from 鈥淚 made a copy of my check before mailing it.鈥�

French distinguishes between un exemplaire and une copie. Each of those earnest art students one sees at the Louvre, planted at an easel before this or that masterwork, is creating une copie. But if you pop into a bookshop on the Left Bank with a craving for Stendhal, you鈥檇 ask for an exemplaire of, say, 鈥淟e Rouge et le Noir.鈥� Plus or minus some production values, one exemplaire is equivalent to another. Une copie, however, is unlikely to come even close to something by Leonardo.

The English word exemplar also means copy in the bookstore sense, according to Merriam-Webster. But I think it鈥檚 safe to say it鈥檚 not widely used.

We鈥檙e stuck with copy. We easily extend its use to software, photos, audio clips, and more. But if you call up L.L. Bean, for instance, you don鈥檛 say, 鈥淚鈥檒l take two copies of that shirt.鈥�

Perhaps the link, however tenuous, to a printing press is determinative here. It鈥檚 been interesting to see the new 3-D printers referred to as 鈥減rinters.鈥� They鈥檙e making 鈥渢hings,鈥� not producing documents, but the analogy is strong.

Nowadays the thing itself is a digital file, a collection of computer code. The paper document dutifully stapled to the 1040 form is only an expression of that thing. One printout is as 鈥渙riginal鈥� as another 鈥� or in other words, both are copies.

Exemplar, which could have remained in use for our bookstore sense of copy, has meanwhile been used to mean both an admirable person or thing that deserves to be copied and 鈥渁 typical example,鈥� according Merriam-Webster. These two definitions would seem to be mutually contradictory.

Another paradox of copy can be found in Noah Webster鈥檚 1828 dictionary. Webster defined copy as 鈥淸l]iterally, a likeness, or resemblance of any kind,鈥� and gave both the 鈥渂ookstore鈥� and the 鈥渞eplica鈥� senses. He then added a third sense:

鈥淎n original work; the autograph; the archetype. Hence, that which is to be imitated in writing or printing. Let the child write according to the copy. The copy is in the hands of the printer. Hence, a pattern or example for imitation. His virtues are an excellent copy for imitation.鈥�

Copy was thus for Webster both the replica and the thing worth replicating. I鈥檓 not sure whether to mourn the loss of that latter meaning. But I do know that in the Digital Age, I can鈥檛 leave an original on the copier. I can only leave a copy.