Corrector

For the fictional characters, seeCorrectors.

Acorrector(English pluralcorrectors,Latin pluralcorrectores) is a person or object practicingcorrection,usually by removing or rectifying errors.

The word is originally a Roman title,corrector,derived from the Latin verbcorrigere,meaning "to make straight, set right, bring into order."

Apart from the general sense of anyone who corrects mistakes, it has been used as, or part of (some commonly shortened again to Corrector), various specific titles and offices, sometimes quite distant from the original meaning.

Secular offices

Roman Antiquity

The office ofcorrectorfirst appears during thePrincipatein the reign ofTrajan(r. 98–117), for extraordinary officials ofsenatorialrank, who were tasked with investigating and reforming the administration in theprovinces.To this end, they were entrusted with fullimperium maius,which extended also to territories normally exempt from the authority of the Emperor's provincial governors: thefree citiesof theGreek East,thesenatorial provinces,as well asItalyherself.The full title of these officials, from their institution to the end of the 3rd century, was inLatinlegatus Augusti pro praetore[missus] ad corrigendum [ordinandum] statum,inGreekrendered as πρεσβευτὴς καἰ ἀντιστράτηγος Σεβαστοῦ διορθωτὴς [or ἐπανορθωτὴς] (presbeutes kaiantistrategosSebastoudiorthotes/epanorthotes). From the late 3rd century on, the title was increasingly, and afterwards exclusively, simplified ascorrectorin Latin and διορθωτὴς (or ἐπανορθωτὴς) in Greek.

The sending ofcorrectoresto the Greek free cities, as well as to Italy, which as a metropolitan territory formally enjoyed a status different from the provinces, began a process of slow degradation of their distinct legal status and their gradual assimilation to the "ordinary" provinces, a process completed with the reforms ofDiocletian(r. 284–305).Thus, at the start of the 4th century, all Italian districts (andSicily) had acorrectoras governor, although by the middle of the century most were replaced by governors with the rank ofconsularis.In the administrative division as preserved in theNotitia Dignitatum,thecorrectoresheld the senatorial rank ofvir clarissimus.Those of theWest Roman Empireranked between theconsularesand the ordinarypraesides,while in theEast Roman Empire,they ranked below thepraesides.

According to theNotitia Dignitatum,ca. 400 the following provinces were undercorrectores:

• Apulia et Calabria,in southern Italy
• Lucania et Bruttium,in southern Italy
• Savia,inPannonia(Balkans)
• Augustamnica,in Egypt
• Paphlagonia,in Asia Minor (Anatolia)

Thecorrector's staff (officium) is also specified:princeps officii,cornicularius,twotabularii,commentariensis,adiutor,ab actis,subadiuva;finally unspecifiedexceptoresand 'other'cohortalini,i.e. menial staff.

Two famous but extraordinarycorrectoreswereOdaenathusand his sonVaballathus,who rose to prominence after EmperorValerianwas defeated and captured by theSassanid Persiansin 260.Odaenathus not only defended the frontier in the East, but succeeded in creating an almost independent state (known as thePalmyrene Empire,after its capitalPalmyra), though it nominally remained within the Roman Empire.For his efforts, he gained the title ofcorrector totius orientis,"Corrector of the Whole East". When he died, his son requested and obtained, after some years, the same title, but later styled himselfAugustus;EmperorAurelianmarched East to quash this open rebellion, defeating and capturing Vaballathus as well as his mother (andde factoruler) QueenZenobia.

In variousmunicipia,correctorbecame the title of a permanent singlechief magistrate(traditionally there had been collegial systems, e.g. twoconsulesorduumviri), as a Byzantine 7th-century source attests for thirteen cities in the Egyptian provinceAugustamnica Prima.

Feudal times

• Corrector of the Press

Ecclesiastic (Catholic) titles

In theRoman Curia(papal ecclesiastical administration), there is an office of corrector and reviser of the books of theVatican Library;of the former Tribunal of Correctors, abolished byPius VII,only a substitute-corrector among theAbbreviatoreswas maintained

In the regular order of theMinimsit was the style ofSuperiorsat the convent level, and the higher level, all elected; at the central level, the title isCorrector General,and at the level of the province,Corrector Provincial.

Correctores Romaniwas the name of a pontificalcanon lawcommission, installed byGregory XIII,later increased to thirty-five members by Pius V in 1566, which revised the text of theCorpus Iuris Canonici.

Furthermore, the word Corrector was used as the title of several publications, some of which are quite famous, such as the 19th book, also known asMedicus,of the Ancientcanons.

The derived termcorrectoriumhas been used for revisions of the text of theVulgateBible, begun in 1236 by the Dominicans under the French CardinalHugh of St. Cher.

Publishing

In thepublishingof literature or other information,editorsassume the correctional roles ofproofreadersandcopy editorsin the editing cycle.

Objects

The term is used for various devices used to correct another, as with a ship's compass or artillery.

See also

• Censor
• Correctory,text-form of the LatinVulgateresulting from the critical emendation in the 13th century
• Critic

Sources and external links

• Catholic Encyclopaedia(various entries;more still to be checked, use its search)