English

Noun

exemplum ‎(plural exempla)

1. An example.
2. A story demonstrating a moral point; a parable.
   • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 90:

     In the Middle Ages preachers had enlivened their sermons with exempla – edifying tales of judgements upon sinners and mercies shown to the pious.

Latin

Etymology

Similar formation as exēmptus, perfect passive participle of eximō ‎(“take out, take away”)

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ekˈsem.plum/

Noun

exemplum n ‎(genitive exemplī); second declension

1. a sample
2. an example
3. a copy or transcript

Inflection

Second declension.

Derived terms

• exemplar
• exemplāris
• exemplō
• exemplī causā
• exemplī grātiā
• exemplī locō

Descendants

References

• exemplum in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• exemplum in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• EXEMPLUM in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “exemplum”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • a good,[1] brilliant example; a striking example: exemplum clarum, praeclarum
    
  • a good, brilliant example; a striking example: exemplum luculentum
    
  • a good, brilliant example; a striking example: exemplum illustre
    
  • a weighty example, precedent: exemplum magnum, grande
    
  • to quote an example: exemplum afferre
    
  • to quote an example: exemplo uti
    
  • to cite a person or a thing as an example: aliquem (aliquid) exempli causa ponere, proferre, nominare, commemorare
    
  • to quote precedents for a thing: aliquid exemplis probare, comprobare, confirmare
    
  • to demonstrate by instances: aliquid exemplis ostendere
    
  • to borrow instances from history: exempla petere, repetere a rerum gestarum memoria or historiarum (annalium, rerum gestarum) monumentis
    
  • examples taken from Roman (Greek) history: exempla a rerum Romanarum (Graecarum) memoria petita
    
  • to collect, accumulate instances: multa exempla in unum (locum) colligere
    
  • to choose one from a large number of instances: ex infinita exemplorum copia unum (pauca) sumere, decerpere (eligere)
    
  • to quote Socrates as a model of virtue: a Socrate exemplum virtutis petere, repetere
    
  • standard and pattern: auctoritas et exemplum (Balb. 13. 31)
    
  • to set up some one as one's ideal, model: sibi exemplum alicuius proponere ad imitandum or simply sibi aliquem ad imitandum proponere
    
  • to take a lesson from some one's example: sibi exemplum sumere ex aliquo or exemplum capere de aliquo
    
  • to shape one's conduct after another's model: ad exemplum alicuius se conformare
    
  • to set an example: exemplum edere, prodere
    
  • to set an example: exemplo esse
    
  • to inflict an exemplary punishment on some one: exemplum in aliquo or in aliquem statuere
    
  • to inflict an exemplary punishment on some one: exemplum (severitatis) edere in aliquo (Q. Fr. 1. 2. 2. 5)
    
  • the text of the author (not textus): verba, oratio, exemplum scriptoris
    
  • a letter, the tenor of which is..: litterae hoc exemplo (Att. 9. 6. 3)