Emending

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Making changes to a text in order to fix errors or improve clarity
2. Revising written material to remove mistakes and enhance the content
3. Altering text to eliminate faults and ensure it reads more accurately

Etymology: "Emending" is the present participle of "emend," which reached English from Latin "ēmendō," meaning "to free from fault." The Latin verb combines "ex-," meaning "out," with "mendum," a word for a fault or blemish. So at its root, editing a text is a matter of getting the errors out of it. "Emend" and "amend" are doublets: two English words descended from the same Latin source by different routes. "Amend" arrived through Old French, which softened its sense toward improving or reforming something, and it now usually means revising laws, documents or behaviour. "Emend" came more directly into Middle English and kept the narrower idea of removing mistakes from a written text, which is why scholars and editors still reach for it.

Synonyms: editing, revising