incorrectus

Forms

incorrēctus (feminine incorrēcta, neuter incorrēctum); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin in-² (“not”) + corrēctus (“corrected”),^[2][3][4] the past participle of corrigō (“to put straight, correct”).^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ovid uses it in the Tristia of his Metamorphoses, which reached the people uncorrected.^[3][2][6]

Semantic evolution

The TLL finds it only in Ovid and in Church writers, who used it of morals not reformed, and even of a person who cannot be corrected.^[3][7] A sermon falsely ascribed to Augustine speaks of a torturer's uncorrected malice, and Gregory the Great of disciples who might remain uncorrected and of the wicked who wish to live so.^[3]

Medieval texts used it of faults left unamended and of offences or offenders left unpunished.^[8][9][10] Hrabanus Maurus warns that an uncorrected crime is punished by eternal vengeance,^[8] a Hungarian synod of 1279 finds much needing reform still uncorrected,^[11] and John Peckham says he left his rudiments of optics uncorrected.^[9] English incorrect first meant “uncorrected, not chastened”, of sinners, in the early 15th century.^[5]

Timeline

• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid says his Metamorphoses went out uncorrected.^[3][2][12]
• 540–604 AD – Gregory the Great uses it of morals not corrected.^[3][12]
• 1279 – A Hungarian synod finds much still uncorrected.^[11]
• 1296 – A letter of the king of Scots complains of wrongs that remain uncorrected.^[9]
• early 15th century – English incorrect “uncorrected” is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Uncorrected, not revised (of a written work).^[2][6][1][9]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Not reformed in morals; incorrigible.^[3][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) Not put right; of an offence or offender, unpunished.^[9][8][10]
4. (Medieval Latin) Faulty, defective.^[8][11]

Related words

• corrigō
• English incorrect

Usage notes

In later texts it is confused with incorreptus, “unreproved”.^[3][8]

References

1. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c d e 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 Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
11. ^ a b c Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
12. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de