Sample
Middle English (as a noun): from an Anglo-Norman French variant of Old French essample ‘example’. Current senses of the verb date from the mid 18th century.
wiktionary
From Middle English saumple, sample, from Old French essample(“example”), from Latin exemplum. Doublet of example and exemplum.
etymonline
sample (n.)
c. 1300, "something which confirms a proposition or statement," from Anglo-French saumple, a shortening of Old French essample, from Latin exemplum "a sample" (see example). Meaning "small quantity (of something) from which the general quality (of the whole) may be inferred" (usually in a commercial sense) is recorded from early 15c.; sense of "specimen for scientific sampling" is from 1878. As an adjective from 1820.
sample (v.)
"to test by taking a sample," 1767, from sample (n.). Earlier "to be a match for" (1590s). Related: Sampled; sampling.
