examen

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ɛkˈsaː.mɛn]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [eɡˈzaː.men]^[1]

Forms

exāmen n (genitive exāminis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from *exagmen, from ex- “out” and agō “to drive” with the suffix -men, related to exigō “to drive out, weigh”.^[2][1][3] Some manuscripts of Virgil have the spelling ⟨exag-⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus, of a swarm of other creatures and of things, and Varro uses it of bees.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC and Varro 116–27 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a swarm of bees going out, as in Varro and Cicero, and a swarm or crowd of other creatures, as Horace's iuvenum exāmen “a swarm of young men”, and of things.^[2][6] From Virgil it meant the tongue of a balance, the process of weighing, and Isidore defines it as the middle thread by which the scale is governed.^[2][7]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a test, examination, agony, struggle.^[8] Medieval Latin used it of an ordeal and of the Last Judgement.^[9] It survives in Spanish enjambre and French essaim, and was borrowed as Italian esame.^[1] Its verb exāmināre “to weigh, test” gave English examine about 1300.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a swarm.^[2][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of bees.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a balance.^[2][5]
• c. 1300 – English examine is recorded, from exāminō.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A swarm of bees.^[2]
2. A swarm, crowd.^[2]
3. The tongue of a balance; weighing.^[2]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A test, examination.^[8]
5. (Medieval Latin) An ordeal; the Last Judgement.^[9]

Word family

• exāminō

Related words

• agō
• exigō
• agmen
• English examine
• English examination

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com