examen

Forms

examen n (plural examene)^[1] Old and regional forms include eczamen (1766), esamen, exament, examin, ezamen and, in Vâlcea, izamen.^[2] An old plural examenuri occurs in an 18th-century school regulation: „să rânduiască examenurile” “to arrange the examinations”.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is a learned loan, borrowed from Latin exāmen (“tongue of a balance, weighing, examination”), which DELR says came in partly through Modern Greek εκζάμενον (ekzámenon) at the end of the 18th century, and later also through French examen, German Examen and Italian esame.^[2] DEX, MDA2 and Tiktin give French and Latin, and the DLR adds Russian экзамен (ekzamen).^[5][4][6][3] Wiktionary has only Latin.^[1]

The Latin noun comes from *exagsmen, from exigō (“to drive out; to weigh, examine”), formed on agō (“to drive”).^[2][7] Its first sense was “swarm of bees”,^[7] the sense continued by the inherited French essaim.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1754.^[6] DELR dates it to 1766, spelt eczamen, and MDA2 to 1779, in a document published by Iorga.^[2][4] The first senses were legal: the inquiry stage of a criminal trial, an interrogation, and the written record of one.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The legal senses are now obsolete.^[4] A record of 1780 sends the culprits' names to the court together with each man's eczamen, the record of his interrogation.^[3] The school sense, a test of what pupils have learned, appears by 1793: „Toate examenurile acestor obicinuite cursuri ... bine au făcut” “they did well in all the examinations of these usual courses”.^[3]

The general sense, a careful study of a thing or a being, gave examen medical “medical examination”.^[5][2] Figuratively an examination is a test of how sound a thing or a situation is.^[5][4] In Oltenia izamen was the end-of-year school festival of the youngest pupils.^[4]

Timeline

• 1754 – the first record.^[6]
• 1766 – eczamen.^[2]
• 1779 – in a document published by Iorga.^[4]
• 1780 – eczamen “record of an interrogation” in a code of law.^[3]
• 1785 – examina “to examine”.^[2]
• 1793 – examenurile “the examinations” of a school.^[3]
• 1822 – examinație in Bobb's dictionary.^[2]
• 1833 – eczaminator “examiner”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An examination, exam: a test of the knowledge or abilities of a pupil, a student or a candidate for a post: A trecut examenul de admitere. “She passed the entrance exam.” Examen de diplomă: the final examination before a board after a university course.^[5][4]
2. (figurative) A trial that tests how sound a thing or a situation is.^[5][4]
3. A close scrutiny of a thing or a being, to understand it properly;^[5][9] examen medical: a doctor's examination of a patient, to make a diagnosis.^[5][9]
4. (obsolete, law) The inquiry stage of a criminal trial, with the hearing of the parties and witnesses; an interrogation, or its written record.^[4][2]

Word family

• examina
• examinație
• reexamina
• examinator

Related words

• exact
• exigent
• Latin exāmen

Usage notes

It is pronounced with /ɡz/, egzamen.^[5][2] A da examen means both “to sit an exam” and “to pass it”.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. examen
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. examen
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 850
5. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 367
6. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. examen
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. examen
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. examen