exemplum
English edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Latin exemplum (“example”). Doublet of example and sample.
Noun edit
exemplum (plural exempla)
- An example.
- A story demonstrating a moral point; a parable.
- 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 90:
- In the Middle Ages preachers had enlivened their sermons with exempla – edifying tales of judgements upon sinners and mercies shown to the pious.
Related terms edit
Latin edit
Etymology edit
Similar formation as exēmptus, perfect passive participle of eximō (“take out, take away”)
Pronunciation edit
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ekˈsem.plum/, [ɛkˈs̠ɛmpɫ̪ʊ̃ˑ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ekˈsem.plum/, [eɡˈzɛmplum]
Noun edit
exemplum n (genitive exemplī); second declension
- a sample, example
- (in particular) a warning example, deterrent
- Synonyms: documentum, monitus
- esse in exemplō ― to serve as a warning
- torture, exemplary penalty, chastisement
- Synonyms: cruciātus, pūnītiō, mercēs, poena, supplicium, sanctio, vindicātiō, pretium, animadversus, malum
- deed, memorable circumstance
- precedent, case, custom
- depiction, paint
- confrontation, comparison
- a copy or transcript
Declension edit
Second-declension noun (neuter).
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | exemplum | exempla |
Genitive | exemplī | exemplōrum |
Dative | exemplō | exemplīs |
Accusative | exemplum | exempla |
Ablative | exemplō | exemplīs |
Vocative | exemplum | exempla |
Derived terms edit
- exemplar
- exemplāris
- exemplō
- exemplī causā
- exemplī grātiā abbreviated "e.g."
- exemplī locō
Descendants edit
- Borrowings
- → Albanian: shembull
- → Alemannic German: Xämpeli
- → Aragonese: eixemplo
- → Catalan: exemple
- → Friulian: esempli
- → Middle High German: exempel
- German: Exempel
- → Italian: esempio (semi-learned)
- → Occitan: exemple
- → Old French: essainple, essample, ensaumple, example (see there for further descendants)
- → Old Galician-Portuguese: exemplo, eixemplo
- → Ladino: enshemplo, egzempyo
- → Romansch: exempel
- → Romanian: exemplu
- → Spanish: ejemplo
- → Swedish: exempel
- → Venetian: exenpio (semi-learned)
- → Cimbrian: ezèmpien
- → Welsh: esiampl
References edit
- “exemplum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- exemplum in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2024), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication
- “exemplum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- exemplum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- exemplum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
- a good,[1] brilliant example; a striking example: exemplum clarum, praeclarum
- a good, brilliant example; a striking example: exemplum luculentum
- a good, brilliant example; a striking example: exemplum illustre
- a weighty example, precedent: exemplum magnum, grande
- to quote an example: exemplum afferre
- to quote an example: exemplo uti
- to cite a person or a thing as an example: aliquem (aliquid) exempli causa ponere, proferre, nominare, commemorare
- to quote precedents for a thing: aliquid exemplis probare, comprobare, confirmare
- to demonstrate by instances: aliquid exemplis ostendere
- to borrow instances from history: exempla petere, repetere a rerum gestarum memoria or historiarum (annalium, rerum gestarum) monumentis
- examples taken from Roman (Greek) history: exempla a rerum Romanarum (Graecarum) memoria petita
- to collect, accumulate instances: multa exempla in unum (locum) colligere
- to choose one from a large number of instances: ex infinita exemplorum copia unum (pauca) sumere, decerpere (eligere)
- to quote Socrates as a model of virtue: a Socrate exemplum virtutis petere, repetere
- standard and pattern: auctoritas et exemplum (Balb. 13. 31)
- to set up some one as one's ideal, model: sibi exemplum alicuius proponere ad imitandum or simply sibi aliquem ad imitandum proponere
- to take a lesson from some one's example: sibi exemplum sumere ex aliquo or exemplum capere de aliquo
- to shape one's conduct after another's model: ad exemplum alicuius se conformare
- to set an example: exemplum edere, prodere
- to set an example: exemplo esse
- to inflict an exemplary punishment on some one: exemplum in aliquo or in aliquem statuere
- to inflict an exemplary punishment on some one: exemplum (severitatis) edere in aliquo (Q. Fr. 1. 2. 2. 5)
- the text of the author (not textus): verba, oratio, exemplum scriptoris
- a letter, the tenor of which is..: litterae hoc exemplo (Att. 9. 6. 3)
- a good,[1] brilliant example; a striking example: exemplum clarum, praeclarum