Art and culture

Near the end of this list stands la casa editrice, and inside it is the word that sends English readers wrong more often than any other in this trade. L’editore is the publisher: the house, or the person who owns it and pays for the print run. It is not the « editor ». The one who reads a manuscript, cuts it and argues about the ending is il redattore, and on a newspaper the person running the desk is il caporedattore. So ho parlato con l’editore reports a conversation about money and contracts, not about commas. The Latin shows how the two drifted apart. Edere meant to give out, to put forth, and the one who gives a book out into the world is the publisher, which is the sense Italian kept whole. English narrowed the same word onto the person who prepares the text, and then had to build « publisher » out of « publish » to name the other job. Two nouns for two jobs on one side, one old noun doing only the older job on the other, and the trap sits exactly where a writer signs a contract.