Conjecture (Emendation)

A conjecture (emendation) is, in textology, a textologist's reasoned correction of a corrupt, erroneous, or unclear passage in a text, made on the basis of a surmise (Latin coniectura — 'guess'), when none of the preserved copies gives the correct reading. Conjecture is resorted to when a text is evidently damaged through slips, omissions, or distortions by copyists, and the collation of copies does not help restore the original reading. A conjecture must rest on a deep knowledge of the language, the author's style, the historical context, and paleographic features (the typical errors of a given script). It is one of the most responsible and most debatable devices of textual criticism: a successful conjecture restores the authorial intention, an unsuccessful one imposes a subjective interpretation on the text. In a scholarly edition, conjectures are always recorded and justified in the apparatus. The art of conjectural criticism is especially developed in classical philology and in medieval studies.