Pseudonymous wrote, "However, I would tend to agree with Bert Lloyd that the idea of a purely oral tradition stretching back over centuries is a non-starter."

A childhood game often used in schools and at parties wherein one person whispers a phrase to another person who in turn does the same to another, etc., would attest to the veracity of that statement. Somebody somewhere created the initial lyrics. If they were written to make money (broadsheets/chaps) or to protest a grievance, someone wrote/created the words. That they exist today attests that they--meaning the song lyrics--have entered the 'tradition', but what that means in the final analysis is anyone's guess. Everything has a starting point. My understanding from reading the educated opinions of the many excellent researchers and thinkers who have posted to this thread (and others of its kind) indicate that if there is a known author then the song cannot be traditional, but that defies logic on a few counts. So I admit to being confused as to what exactly is meant by traditional songs or lyrics, mediated or not. I am happy to be educated. If that is too far off topic, then forget I asked, because it is not my intent to start a war of words as to what is meant by the terminology.

Some years back (about fifty) the Tasaday were 'discovered' in the Philippines. They were a then unknown "stone-age" people newly found by anthropologists(??). It turned out the whole thing was pretty much a hoax. It will take wiser heads than mine to determine if similar occurrences have happened in the tradition or entered the tradition due to intent, happenstance or circumstance.

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Georgina Born: https://www.music.ox.ac.uk/about/people/academic-staff/university-lecturers-and-college-fellows/georgina-born/