emendator

Forms

ēmendātor m (genitive ēmendātōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ēmendō (“to correct”) + -tor.^[1][2][3] The verb is formed from ex- and menda (“fault, blemish”),^[4] which de Vaan takes to be based on the old plural of mendum.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,^[6][2] who calls a man the corrector and reformer of the state, corrector atque emendator nostrae civitatis.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

Cicero also uses it of a corrector of everyday speech, and Pliny the Younger of a reformer of the senate and, of fear, “the harshest corrector”.^[3][8] The TLL notes that it is often said ironically or of someone who takes the role of corrector on himself.^[2] Gellius uses it of correctors of manuscripts, who wrote stetisses for stitisses, and the Vulgate has it in the Book of Wisdom.^[3][7]

Royal letters of the 13th century use it of the supervisors of a truce.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a reformer of the state and a corrector of speech.^[3][6]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of correctors of manuscripts.^[3][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in the Book of Wisdom.^[7][6]
• 1215 – A royal letter is addressed to the supervisors of a truce with France.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A corrector, reformer of persons or things.^[4][7][3]
2. One who corrects texts, an emender.^[4][3]
3. (Medieval Latin) A supervisor of a truce.^[9]

Word family

• emendatorius

Related words

• ēmendō
• ēmendātiō
• corrēctor

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ 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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
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