recte
Latin for 'correctly' — supplies the right reading beside an error in a source.
recte introduces a correction to quoted material: the erroneous form is reproduced, then the accurate form follows, marked recte. It is the constructive counterpart to sic, which flags an error without fixing it.
Editors use it in brackets inside a quotation — 'in 1642 [recte 1643]' — or in an apparatus note. The advantage over silent emendation is transparency: the reader sees both what the source says and what the editor believes it should say, and can disagree.
The form is standard in textual criticism, bibliography, and archival cataloguing, where dates, names, and imprint statements are frequently wrong on the object itself and must be recorded as printed while still being findable by the correct value.
Common mistake: using recte to impose a preference rather than to fix a demonstrable error. If the source reading is merely unusual, sic or no comment at all is the honest choice.
“Printed at Londini [recte London], 1623.”
Keep reading the glossary
Latin for 'thus' — used in quotes to mark an error reproduced from the original.
An editorial mark meaning 'let it stand' — undo a proposed change and keep the original.
An editor's word or phrase inserted inside a quotation, marked with square brackets.
Square brackets mark editorial changes inside a quotation — clarifications, edits, or [sic].