The story I’d heard was not that it’s a transcription error, but closer to a pun. Readers would be familiar with the term for a ship’s rope, and the minor linguistic shift highlighted the absurdity of such an idea.
Interesting though about translations to other languages. I’ll have to dig further on the subject.
There is exactly one person in history who mentioned this supposed reference to a ship’s rope being referred to as a “camel.” The word in that context appeared nowhere else, including no other contemporaneous writing on ships and navigation. Not very credible, especially with the other evidence of a transcription error.
The story I’d heard was not that it’s a transcription error, but closer to a pun. Readers would be familiar with the term for a ship’s rope, and the minor linguistic shift highlighted the absurdity of such an idea.
Interesting though about translations to other languages. I’ll have to dig further on the subject.
There is exactly one person in history who mentioned this supposed reference to a ship’s rope being referred to as a “camel.” The word in that context appeared nowhere else, including no other contemporaneous writing on ships and navigation. Not very credible, especially with the other evidence of a transcription error.