Emendation (edition philology)
In edition philology ( textual criticism ), the correction of errors in texts by an editor is called emendation (from Latin emendatio , improvement ) .
When editing older handwritten manuscripts there is often the problem that characters, words or entire sentences have become illegible due to foxing , ink blots or worms. There can also be simple spelling mistakes. If a text to be edited is only available in copy, it can also be assumed that there were copying errors.
These passages can be edited (corrected) in the edition , provided that the original text can be sensibly identified. In the best case scenario, there are several copies of a text that can be compared with one another. The errors in the copies can often be used to determine their chronology and interdependence (so-called stemma , the 'family tree' of the copies). If a text passage cannot be reconstructed, it is marked in the print text.
If printed texts are published in a philologically edited new edition, clear printing errors are corrected, for example. If there are several early printed versions of a text (such as Shakespeare's works), these are compared with one another. The editor must then decide on a case-by-case basis - if necessary word for word, letter by letter - which version to adopt.
A critical edition of texts shows emendations in the critical apparatus , i.e. in a special appendix or at the foot of the page.
The content and stylistic correction of a text is called a conjecture .
literature
- Klara Vanek: “Ars corrigendi” in the early modern period. Studies on the history of textual criticism. De Gruyter, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3110192346 ; see also Google Books .
