Make Your Editor Cry: Amend vs. Emend
To amend is to change for the better, to put right, or to alter by adding. The word’s corresponding noun is amendment. Amend is the source of the verb mend, which today is similarly defined but more broad and informal.
Emend is a word that is very dear to me, personally. It means to improve by editing. Its corresponding noun is emendation. Emend is rare because it’s mainly confined to contexts related to professional writing and editing.
They share a Latin root in ēmendāre, which means, roughly, to remove fault. The older amend came to English, around the 13th century, via French, where the –e in the Latin word had become an –a several centuries before. Emend came to English a couple of centuries later.
Examples:
The editors emend the text to contain a comma rather than a colon after “merchants” in the second paragraph.
If passed, the bill would amend the current law so that that only people age 18 to 21 would be required to register to vote.
Gregg Bridgeman is the Editor-in-Chief at Olivia Kimbrell Press. He is husband to best-selling Christian author Hallee Bridgeman and parent to three. He continues to proudly serve in the US Armed Forces and has done so in either an active or reserve capacity for more than twenty years as an airborne and air assault qualified paratrooper, earning a Bronze Star for his service. Most importantly, he was ordained in October of 2001 after surrendering his life to Christ decades earlier.
