exemplu

Forms

exemplu n (plural exemple)^[1] Old spellings include ecsemplu, esemplu, ezemplu and esempru; one old text glosses the last: „Nenumărate esempruri, adecă pilde” “countless examples, that is, parables”.^[2][3] The old plural exempluri was common: „Iată mai multe exempluri de adunare” “here are several examples of addition” (Heliade).^[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French exemple, and also borrowed from Latin exemplum (“sample, model”), as DELR, DLR, MDA2, DEX, MDN and Wiktionary give it;^{[2][3][4][5][6][1][7][8]} Tiktin and Scriban name Latin alone.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1][7][8]} The pronunciation with /ɡz/ follows French.^[8][2]

The Latin noun is derived from eximō (“to take out, set apart”), from emō (“to take”): it first meant a thing set apart to serve as a model.^[2][9][10] It is explained as *ex-em-lom with a /p/ inserted between /m/ and /l/.^[9][1] The French word was borrowed from Latin in the 11th century.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1736, in a document of the Șchei of Brașov.^[2][7] MDA2 cites first a Wallachian manuscript of algebra and arithmetic of 1801, where it means an example worked to explain a rule.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Early 19th-century school books used it for the cases that illustrate a rule: „Pruncii trebuie să învețe regulele prin multe ecsempluri” “children must learn the rules through many examples” (Petrovici).^[3] Beside this came the sense of an act or person to be imitated, a pildă, and of a punishment or event that serves as a warning.^[5][2][11] An old phrase fără exemplu meant “unprecedented, without equal”.^[4][2]

Costinescu in 1870 records de exemplu and spre exemplu “for example”, after French par exemple.^[12] Expressions such as a da exemplu “to set an example” and a urma exemplul cuiva “to follow someone's example” are current.^[5]

The family came from French, Latin and Italian at the same time: exemplar “copy” (1782), the adjective exemplar “exemplary” (1832), exemplaritate (1869), exemplifica (1870) and contraexemplu (1903).^[2]

Timeline

• 1736 – a document of the Șchei of Brașov, the first record.^[2][7]
• 1782 – exemplar “copy”, as exempler.^[2]
• 1801 – in a Wallachian algebra manuscript.^[4]
• 1825 – exemplu, seu esemplu in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[13]
• 1832 – the adjective exemplar “exemplary”, as esemplarnic.^[2]
• 1870 – exemplifica “to illustrate with examples”;^[2][12] de exemplu in Costinescu.^[2][12]
• 1903 – contraexemplu “counterexample”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An example, model: what serves to be imitated or to illustrate something; a person who can serve as a model: a da exemplu “to set an example”, a urma exemplul cuiva “to follow someone's example”.^[5][1]
2. A typical case cited to explain or support an idea or a demonstration;^[5][4] de exemplu “for example, for instance”.^[5][4]
3. A passage quoted to illustrate a rule of grammar or a definition.^[4][8]
4. A punishment or an event meant as a warning to others.^[11][2]

Word family

• exemplar
• exemplaritate
• exemplifica
• exemplificativ
• exemplificator
• exemplificație
• contraexemplu

Related words

• pildă

Usage notes

The plural is exemple;^[5][4] exempluri is old.^[5][4] It is pronounced egzemplu.^[5][2]

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 m n o p q 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
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. exemplu
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, 855
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 369
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. exemplu
7. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. exemplu
8. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 482
9. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. exemplu
12. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 405
13. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 207