exemplar

Forms

exemplar n (genitive exemplāris); third declension^[1] Lucretius has the fuller form exemplāre.^[2][3] Late Latin also has exemplārium, formed from the plural.^[4]

Etymology

It is formed from exemplum (“example, pattern”) with the suffix -ar, or is the shortened neuter of the adjective exemplāris (“exemplary”).^[2][4][1] De Vaan lists ⟨exemplum⟩ with emō (“to buy, originally to take”), from Proto-Italic *eme/o- (“to take”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁em-e/o- (“to take”), cognate with Oscan emmens (“they took”).^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucretius has “a small thing can give an example of great things”,^[2] and Köbler gives Cicero as its first author.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It is a typical instance, example or illustration, as in Lucretius, and a specimen, as Vitruvius' mud-roofed specimen of antiquity.^[2][3] It is a model or pattern for imitation, as Cicero's state with no fixed model, and an original pattern or archetype, a Platonic idea, as in Seneca, also the sketch for a finished work, in Vitruvius.^[2][3]

It is also a copy or reproduction, as Cicero's “he who looks at a true friend looks at a kind of copy of himself”, and a transcript of a book or document, as Cicero's book for which he had no copy.^[2][3] In medieval Latin it is a picture or drawing, a pattern or sketch, and an archetype.^[7] Through Old French and Late Latin exemplārium it gave English exemplar in the late 14th century, first of the model of the universe in the mind of God.^[8]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of an example.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a model and of a copy.^[2][6]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of a specimen and a sketch.^[2][6]
• late 14th century – English exemplar.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. An example, illustration; a specimen.^[2][3][1][9]
2. A model, pattern; an original, archetype; a sketch.^{[2][3][1][9][7]}
3. A copy, reproduction; a transcript.^[2][3][1][9]
4. (Medieval Latin) A picture, drawing.^[7]

Word family

• exemplārium

Related words

• exemplum
• exemplāris
• eximō
• emō
• English exemplar

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes exemplum, one example out of many, chosen as fit for a purpose, from exemplar, an example above others, chosen as fit to represent the whole kind.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper