ABSTRACT

Pseudonymity (Pseudonymitet-noun; Pseudonym-noun; pseudonym-adjective)

From the Latin pseudonymus, following the Greek ψευδώνυμος. In its ordinary sense, a pseudonym (literally, “false name”) is a name other than an author’s own which the author uses with reference to a written text for the purpose of the ascription of authorship; a pseudonym is sometimes called a “pen name.”1 In any case, pseudonymity is one means by which an individual can write and publish a written work without appending his or her own name as author. Customarily, the implication of pseudonymous authorship is that the person actually responsible for authoring the work wishes to avoid immediate association in the minds of the readers or the public between himself or herself and the work in question. There are any number of possible motivations for pseudonymous authorship, however.