exagium

Forms

exagium n (genitive exagiī or exagī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin exigō (“to drive out; to weigh, test”) + -ium,^[1][2] built on the unweakened stem ⟨exag-⟩, as if from a simple compound of agō without the vowel change of exigō.^[3][4] The TLL and Lewis & Short compare exāmen (“tongue of a balance”), from the same verb.^[2][5] The word also occurs as Ancient Greek ἐξάγιον (exágion), which the bilingual glossaries render as ⟨pensatio⟩ “weighing”.^[6][5]

Through Romance it is the source of Italian saggio, French essai and Spanish ensayo,^[1][7] and so, through French, of English essay and English assay.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a Late Latin word: an inscription in Rome speaks of selling cattle by weight, sub exagiō,^[3][4] and the laws of the 5th century use it for a weighing and a standard weight.^[5][9]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense was a weighing, hence a weight;^[3][4][1] from the 4th century it was in particular the standard weight against which the value of the gold coin was checked.^[7] It also named the balance itself.^[5][1]

In Medieval Latin it kept these senses and added the testing of weights and of metals,^[10][11] the fine weight of a coin,^[11] and a medical weight of a drachm and a half, which English writers equate with the solidus.^[11][6] A charter of 850 uses it for an ordeal, a trial by the judgement of God.^[12][10] The sense of a trial or test passed into the Romance words, and into English essay, first “trial, attempt” in the 1590s.^[8]

Timeline

• 438 – The Theodosian Code and the Novellae of Theodosius and Valentinian use it.^[9][5]
• c. 360–c. 435 – John Cassian uses it of the standard weight.^[7][9]
• 850 – A charter of Marseille uses it for an ordeal.^[12]
• c. 1300 – English has assay, through Anglo-French from Old French.^[8]
• 1590s – English borrows French essai as essay.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A weighing.^[3][4][5]
2. A weight;^[1][7] (Late Latin) the standard weight used to check coins.^[1][7]
3. (Late Latin) A balance, scales.^[5][1]
4. (Medieval Latin) The testing of weights or of metals, an assay.^[10][11]
5. (Medieval Latin, medicine) A weight of a drachm and a half.^[11][6]
6. (Medieval Latin) An ordeal.^[10][12]

Related words

• exāmen
• exigō
• English essay
• English assay

Usage notes

Niermeyer records the medieval spellings essagium, assagium, exaiium and sagium.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
11. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
12. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre