exemplar

Forms

exemplar n (plural exemplare)^[1] As an adjective it inflects exemplar, feminine exemplară, plural exemplari, exemplare.^[2] The pronunciation is [eg-zem-], after French.^[2][3] Old texts spell it ecsemplar and eczemplar, with an old plural -uri: „un ecsemplar rămâne la zălogitoriu” “one copy stays with the lender” (Șincai); „prin tipărire eczemplaruri” “by printing copies” (a document of 1828).^[4][5]

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from French exemplaire (“copy”), with Latin exemplārium (“copy, transcript”) as a second source.^[2][5][6][1] DELR and Tiktin call the Latin source a learned borrowing.^[6][7] The Latin noun is a post-classical form of exemplar (“model, copy”), formed with the suffix -ārium.^[8][9][1]

The adjective is borrowed from Latin exemplāris (“serving as an example”), with the same French word as model.^[2][5][6] The Latin adjective is formed on exemplum (“example, model”) with the suffix -āris.^[1] The French word comes from Old French essamplaire, from the Latin adjective.^[1] DEX, DILF and the DLR treat the noun and the adjective as two numbered headwords, and MDA2 gives a different etymon for each (see Usage notes).^{[2][10][4][5]}

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is first recorded in 1782, in the form exempler, in Dumitrache's chronicle.^[6][7][4] The DLR's first quotation for the sense “copy” comes from a notice of the Philosophical Society of the Romanian nation in Transylvania, printed at Sibiu, which asks how many copies to print.^[4] The adjective appears in 1832 as esemplarnic, in Bojincă, and as exemplar in the Poenaru–Aaron–Hill dictionary of 1840.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

The noun meant first a copy of a printed book or document and also, as in Latin, an example or model; that second sense is now obsolete.^[6][5][3] From copies of books it spread to any single item of a series, and to a single representative of a kind of plants, animals or things.^[2][5] CADE (1931) also records a specimen kept in a natural history collection.^[11] Slang uses it for a beautiful woman.^[12]

The adjective means “worthy of imitation” and, of punishments, “severe enough to be a warning”.^[2][5] Barițiu wrote it esemplarie in letters of 1868 and 1882.^[4] The abstract noun exemplaritate was taken from French exemplarité and Italian esemplarità and is recorded from 1869.^[6]

Timeline

• 1782 – the noun, as exempler, in Dumitrache's chronicle.^[6][7]
• 1828 – the plural eczemplaruri in a document.^[4]
• 1832 – the adjective as esemplarnic in Bojincă.^[6]
• 1840 – the adjective exemplar in the Poenaru–Aaron–Hill dictionary.^[4]
• 1851 – ecsemplară “exemplary” of a married couple's life, in a calendar.^[4]
• 1869 – exemplaritate, as esemplaritate.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A copy: each of a series of identical objects reproduced from one model, such as a book or a newspaper: Romanul s-a tipărit în cinci mii de exemplare.^[2][5]
2. A single representative of a kind of beings or things; a specimen.^[2][5]
3. (obsolete) An example, a model to follow.^[6][5]
4. (slang) A beautiful woman.^[12]

Adjective

1. Exemplary: worthy of serving as an example through its qualities: o elevă exemplară.^[2][5]
2. Of a punishment: severe enough to serve as a warning: o sancțiune exemplară.^[2][5]

Related words

• exemplu
• exemplaritate
• exemplifica

Usage notes

DEX numbers the noun exemplar¹ (plural exemplare) and the adjective exemplar² (plural exemplari, exemplare).^[2] MDA2 gives Latin exemplarium as the etymon of the noun and exemplaris as that of the adjective, beside French exemplaire for both.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 369
3. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 482
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. exemplar
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 855
6. ^ 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. exemplu
7. ^ 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. exemplar
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria
11. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
12. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu