Assimilation may refer to two distinct but similar processes. The first describes the way in which a scribe may write a word so that it resembles another nearby word. For example, 'an excellent examplic of the rhetoric' in which 'example' has been assimilated to the coming 'rhetoric' (West 1973, 24).
The second process described as assimilation refers to the incorporation of wording from a parallel narrative, witness or text into the copy text. This process is sometimes referred to as contamination, a term which is viewed as somewhat misleading in its pejorative connotations, or horizontal transmission.
Cf. types of errors.
Reference
– West, Martin L. 1973. Textual Criticism and Editorial Technique Applicable to Greek and Latin Texts. Stuttgart: Teubner.
In other languages
DE: Assimilation
FR: assimilation
IT: assimilazione