correctio

Forms

corrēctiō f (genitive corrēctiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin corrigō (“to straighten, correct”) + -tiō, formed on the stem of the supine ⟨corrēctum⟩.^[2][3][4][1] It is also written ⟨conrēctiō⟩ with the unassimilated prefix.^[2][3] Manuscripts often confuse it with correptiō (“a seizing; a rebuke”), which comes from corripiō (“to seize; to rebuke”).^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero,^[6] who in a letter writes of the state being left without any amendment.^[2] The TLL records it as a technical term of rhetoric from the Rhetorica ad Herennium on.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Classical prose, where Lewis & Short call it rare but good, it is the putting right of something faulty: Cicero speaks of a correction of the old philosophy and of the Old Academy, and Suetonius of the correction of morals.^[2][3] In rhetoric it is the figure in which a speaker withdraws a word and puts a more fitting one in its place.^[2] The jurist Papinian uses it of punishment, a sense that Ecclesiastical Latin kept beside “amendment”.^[2][7]

Medieval writers used it for moral discipline and the improvement of conduct, for a reproof or warning, for punishment and flogging, and for the right to punish.^[5][8] In British sources it is also the repair of things, the emendation of a text, and the checking of nets.^[9] Through Old French ⟨correccion⟩ it became English correction.^[10]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of amending the state and of correcting a philosophy.^[2][3][6]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius writes of the correction of morals.^[3][6]
• before 212 AD – Papinian uses it of chastisement.^[2][6]
• mid-14th century – English takes over ⟨correccioun⟩ from Old French.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A correction, amendment, the putting right of something faulty.^[2][3]
2. (rhetoric) The figure of replacing a word with a more fitting one.^[2]
3. A reproof; chastisement, punishment.^[2][7][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) Moral discipline; the right to punish.^[5]
5. (Medieval Latin) Repair; the emendation of a text.^[9]

Related words

• corrector
• English correction

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com