exemplum

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin exemplum (“example”). Doublet of example and sample.

Noun

exemplum (plural exempla)

1. An example.
2. 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

• exemplum virtutis

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɛɡzɛmplum]

Noun

exemplum n

1. (literary) a story demonstrating a moral point

Declension

Declension of exemplum (hard neuter foreign)

	singular	plural
nominative	exemplum	exempla
genitive	exempla	exempl
dative	exemplu	exemplům
accusative	exemplum	exempla
vocative	exemplum	exempla
locative	exemple	exemplech
instrumental	exemplem	exemply

Further reading

• “exemplum”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

Latin

Etymology

Similar formation as exēmptus, perfect passive participle of eximō (“take out, take away”)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ekˈsem.plum/, [ɛkˈs̠ɛmpɫ̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ekˈsem.plum/, [eɡˈzɛmplum]

Noun

exemplum n (genitive exemplī); second declension

1. a sample, example
2. (in particular) a warning example, deterrent

   Synonyms: documentum, monitus

   esse in exemplō ― to serve as a warning

3. torture, exemplary penalty, chastisement

   Synonyms: cruciātus, pūnītiō, mercēs, poena, supplicium, sanctio, vindicātiō, pretium, animadversus, malum

4. deed, memorable circumstance
5. precedent, case, custom

   Synonyms: mos, solitum, usus

6. depiction, paint
7. confrontation, comparison
8. a copy or transcript

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	exemplum	exempla
genitive	exemplī	exemplōrum
dative	exemplō	exemplīs
accusative	exemplum	exempla
ablative	exemplō	exemplīs
vocative	exemplum	exempla

Derived terms

• exemplar
• exemplāris
• exemplō
• exemplī causā
• exemplī grātiā abbreviated "e.g."
• exemplī locō

Descendants

• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Italian: scempio
  • Sicilian: scempru

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
  • Galician: exemplo
  • Portuguese: exemplo
• → Ladino: enshemplo, egzempyo
• → Romansch: exempel
• → Romanian: exemplu
• → Sicilian: asempiu, esempiu, isempiu, sempiu (italianized)
• → Spanish: ejemplo
• → Swedish: exempel
• → Venetan: exenpio (semi-learned)
  • → Cimbrian: ezèmpien
• → Welsh: esiampl

References

• “exemplum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• exemplum in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2025), 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)