exemplarium

Forms

exemplārium n (genitive exemplāriī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The OLD derives it from Latin exemplum + -ārium,^[2] while Wiktionary forms it from exemplar with the same suffix,^[1] and Lewis & Short call it a post-classical form for exemplar.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Arnobius,^[4] who uses it for a model or original.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it meant a copy or transcript, as of a will drawn up in duplicate in the Digest and in Jerome,^[3][2] and a model or pattern.^[3] The British medieval dictionary keeps the sense “copy”.^[5]

Italian humanists wrote of books spread in many exemplaria, and Lorenzo Valla objected to the genitive plural exemplariorum in place of exemplarium from exemplar.^[6] Etymonline traces English exemplar partly to this word.^[7]

Timeline

• 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it for a model or original.^[3][4]
• c. 383–419 AD – Jerome uses it for a copy.^[3][4]
• 533 AD – The Digest speaks of two tablets of a will written as copies.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A copy, transcript.^[2][3][5]
2. A model, pattern, original.^[3]

Related words

• exemplaris
• English exemplar

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b 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
6. ^ Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com