A lacuna is a gap or missing page in a manuscript or musical composition, often caused by the passage of time. Historians may use other copies or contemporary information to reconstruct the missing text, but sometimes it is impossible. Deliberate gaps can also be created, and missing pages may indicate deliberate removal of information. Gaps are rare in modern manuscripts, but can still occur in private correspondence or courtroom transcripts. The term comes from the Latin word for “hole or pit”, and is indicated in text with bracket notation when filled in.
A lacuna is a gap or missing page in a manuscript; the term is also used to refer to gaps in musical compositions. Gaps are extremely common in ancient manuscripts that have been damaged by the passage of time and can be both frustrating and challenging for historians. Typically, a gap is clearly indicated in a transcript, usually with the symbol (…), as in the example of a sentence such as: “The witness claimed to have gone to the (…) to purchase a (…) and a bag of potatoes.”
The most common reason for a gap in a manuscript is simply the passage of time. With older manuscripts, a gap can sometimes be reconstructed using other copies of the manuscript or using other contemporary information such as writings on that manuscript. In other cases, it may be impossible to understand the phrase that once filled the gap, even though historians often enjoy debating it anyway. A gap can also be created deliberately by someone who has chosen to black out a section of text for various reasons.
In other cases, entire pages may be missing from a manuscript. These gaps can be extremely unfortunate, as they sometimes indicate that pages have been removed deliberately, in which case they may contain interesting information that could totally change the meaning and context of the manuscript. It is common for counterfeit copies of missing pages to surface; in some cases, the fake pages held up for quite some time before someone finally proved that they were fakes.
In modern manuscripts, a gap is relatively rare, as presumably the author is around to fill the gap. However, they do happen, especially in transcripts of private correspondence or letters; biographers are sometimes frustrated by gaps when preparing material for publication. They also appear in courtroom transcripts, when a stenographer has been unable to keep up with testimony or when there are interruptions that make accurate transcription difficult.
The term has been used since 1663 to indicate empty or missing information, and in Latin it literally means “hole or pit”. The term derives from the Latin lacus, which means “lake or pond”; this root is also behind “lagoon”. Typically, the bracket notation format is used in text when a gap is filled in, to indicate that the text is not original. In the example above, a printout with gap corrections might read: “The witness stated that she went to the (store) to buy a (carton of milk) and a sack of potatoes”.
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