Etymologically
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emendatio

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Forms

ēmendātiō f (genitive ēmendātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ēmendō (“to free from faults, correct”) + -tiō.[2][1][3] That verb is formed from ⟨ex-⟩ “out” and menda (“fault, blemish”).[4][5] De Vaan takes that noun as the old plural of mendum, which goes back to Proto-Italic *m(e)ndo-; if Old Irish mind (“sign, mark”) is related, the word is Italo-Celtic, and a link with the root Proto-Indo-European *mn- (“to think”) is only a theoretical possibility.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Varro and then in Cicero,[2] who speaks ironically of a correctiō philosophiae veteris et ēmendātiō, “a correction and improvement of the old philosophy”.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

It is the removal of faults: the correction of people, their character and behaviour,[4] of writings and calculations,[4] and of a bad situation,[4] or a means of improvement, as when Quintilian says that if war is the cause of evils, peace will be their corrective.[4] In rhetoric it is an apology for something one has said.[4] The TLL notes that it is a prose word, absent from the poets.[2] Christian writers use it of the amendment of life, as Tertullian's per ēmendātiōnem vītae,[2] and in Ecclesiastical Latin it is correction, conversion and betterment.[7] Medieval Latin gave it legal and penal senses: reform, repentance, the redress of wrongs and administration of justice, indemnity, atonement, punishment, a fine, and a finable offence;[8] British texts also use it of the emendation of a text, the amendment of a law, and the repair of roads and buildings.[9]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it.[2][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the correction of the old philosophy.[4][2][3]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of correcting people through punishment.[4][3]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it as a figure of rhetoric.[4][3]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian writes of the amendment of life.[2][3]
  • 405 AD – The Theodosian Code uses it of correcting a wrong belief.[2]
  • Medieval Latin – It comes to mean redress of wrongs, atonement and a fine.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Correction, amendment, removal of faults, of persons and their conduct; also criticism.[4][10]
  2. Correction of writings or calculations; emendation.[4][9]
  3. Improvement of a bad situation; a means of improvement, a corrective.[4]
  4. (rhetoric) An apology for what one has said, made in anticipation of the audience's criticism.[4]
  5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Conversion, amendment of life.[7][2]
  6. (Medieval Latin) Reform; repentance; redress of wrongs, administration of justice.[8]
  7. (Medieval Latin) Indemnity, atonement; punishment; a fine; a finable offence.[8]
  8. (Medieval Latin) Amendment of a law; repair of roads or buildings.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b c 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. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press