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

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 (2003-2024), 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)