esame

Forms

esame m (plural esami)^[1] The spelling Old Italian exame is also found.^[2] An older learned form, esamine, built on the Latin stem, is recorded in the 16th century.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin exāmen (“tongue of a balance; weighing, examination”), a learned word.^[5][6][7][1] The Latin noun first meant the pointer of a pair of scales, and so the act of weighing and testing.^[6][7][8] It is derived from exigō (“to weigh, measure exactly”), a compound of ex- (“out”) and agō (“to drive, lead”).^[5][6][9] The OLD reconstructs the noun as *exagsmen, and Wiktionary as *exagmen with the instrument suffix -men.^[10][1] Isidore of Seville defines the word as the middle thread by which the beam of the balance is ruled and the pans are made equal.^[9]

The same Latin noun also meant a swarm of bees, and in that sense it was inherited as sciame (“swarm”), the popular doublet.^[1][6][8] The LEI gives the swarm sense an article of its own: following the great Latin thesaurus, it explains it from the sense “to drive out” of the verb, since a swarm leaves the old hive to found a new one.^[11] The learned word is French examen, recorded in 1372, and Spanish examen.^[6][3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the poems of Jacopone da Todi, who died in 1306, in the sense of a careful weighing of something that leads to a judgement.^[2][7] DELI notes that the word appears there only once and came into general use in the 17th century.^[5] Old Italian also had the legal phrase sotto l'esame di, under the authority and approval of someone.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The verb esaminare is older than the noun: Bono Giamboni uses it before 1292, and Dante has esaminatore in 1304–1308.^[5] The school and university sense, a test that a candidate takes to show what they know, is first recorded in Sforza Pallavicino, before 1667.^[5] Tommaseo's dictionary still explained the word from its Latin image of the balance.^[12]

In the modern language esame covers any close inspection, chemical and medical analyses, and in law the questioning of a defendant or witness.^[7][13][8] Religious language has the esame di coscienza, the review of one's sins before confession, and the libero esame of the Protestant churches, the believer's right to read Scripture without the mediation of the Church.^[14][13][15] Esaminando “candidate” is recorded in 1803 and riesame “re-examination” in 1932.^[6]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the verb esaminare.^[5]
• Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses esame.^[2][7]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses esaminatore.^[5]
• 1372 – French examen is recorded.^[3]
• 16th century – The form esamine is recorded.^[3]
• Before 1667 – Sforza Pallavicino uses the word for a test taken by a candidate.^[5]
• 1797 – Esaminabile is recorded.^[5]
• 1932 – Riesame is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. examination, careful consideration of something or someone in order to judge it: Il progetto è ancora all'esame del consiglio.^[7][13][8]
2. A chemical or physical analysis, and in medicine a diagnostic test: un esame del sangue.^[7][13][15]
3. An exam, a test that a student or candidate takes to show their knowledge or fitness: Domani ho l'esame di storia.^[7][8][14]
4. (law) The questioning of a defendant or witness.^[13][8][4]

Word family

• esaminare
• esaminatore
• esaminando
• esaminabile
• riesame
• disamina
• controesame

Related words

• disaminare
• riesaminare
• sciame
• esigere
• Latin exāmen

Usage notes

Common phrases are dare or sostenere un esame (to take an exam), superare un esame (to pass one), prendere in esame (to consider), esame di maturità, esame di Stato and esame di coscienza.^[7][14][15] An old esame “swarm of bees”, a variant of sciame, is found in Giovanni Rucellai and other 16th-century poets.^[9][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1529
4. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 21, 893
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana