Etymologically
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incorrectus

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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]

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