corrector

Forms

corrēctor m (genitive corrēctōris); third declension^[1] It is also spelled ⟨conrector⟩.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin corrigō (“to put right”) + -tor, made on the participle ⟨corrēctus⟩.^[2][1][4] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of regō (“to direct”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *reg-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *h3reǵ-e/o- (“to stretch, direct”); its long ⟨ē⟩ is due to Lachmann's law.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Terence's Adelphoe, where one character mockingly calls another a “corrector” after being told to put right by skill what chance has upset.^[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

It named someone who puts things right, a reformer or improver:^[2][3] Cicero speaks of a corrector and reformer of the state, Horace of poetry as the corrector of harshness, envy and anger, and Livy says that use alone corrects laws.^[2][4] It could also be said with disapproval of a fault-finder, as when Cicero mocks a critic who blunders into verse while finding fault.^[4][2]

From the time of Trajan it was the title of a special commissioner sent to supervise the finances of a free city,^[2] and later of the governor of a smaller province, especially in Italy, such as the corrector Lūcāniae in Eutropius.^[4][6] Lactantius speaks of a corrector of human wickedness.^[4] Italian has correttore from it.^[6]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it mockingly of someone who puts things right.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of a reformer of the state and of a fault-finding critic.^[2][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy calls use the corrector of laws.^[2][7]
• c. 370 AD – Eutropius uses it of the governor of Lucania.^[4][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who sets right or emends, a reformer, improver; also a fault-finder.^[2][3][4]
2. The title of an imperial commissioner supervising the finances of a free city; later, the governor of a smaller province.^[2][4]

Related words

• corrigō

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 l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de