repetitorium

English

Alternative forms

• Repetitorium

Etymology

Borrowed from German Repetitorium, so called because it serves to repeat or review material rather than introduce new topics.

Noun

repetitorium (plural repetitoria or repetitoriums)

1. A private class that augments a university course of studies by reviewing material, typically found in the German system.
   • 1890, The Scottish Forestry Journal, page 248:

     A lecture which occupies more than one hour is always divided into two parts, by a break of a quarter of an hour in the middle, in order to prevent any weariness or inattention resulting from a long sitting. Great importance is attached to "repetitoriums," in which the ground of former lectures is glanced rapidly over, bringing out the most important points in the various subjects

   • 2002, B. S. Markesinis, The British Contribution to the Europe of the Twenty-first Century, →ISBN, page 67:

     As will be explained below, students taking repetitoria usually pay for a chunk of hours per subject and this could mean anything between DM 1,000 and 3,000 (approximately ₤1,000) per course on, say, civil law or procedural law etc. Even for those students who follow repetitoria in many courses, the overall cost is still low by comparison to British fees and infinitesimally low by comparison to American ones (though it does not seem so to the German takers).

   • 2012, Thomas Lundmark, Charting the Divide Between Common and Civil Law, →ISBN, page 154:

     These crammer institutions generally offer one-year courses which review all the materials for the examination and train participants in the art of writing exams. Law faculties also offer their own university repetitoriums although the majority of students still prefer to attend private institutions.

   • 2015, Robert R. Clewis, Reading Kant's Lectures, →ISBN, page 171:

     He did this because he was thinking of providing lines to dictate during a repetitorium.

2. A text written as a review of material, as opposed to one intended to introduce a topic.
   • 1946, General Electric Review - Volume 49, page 66:

     Expressed in Professor Schrödinger's own words, it is a "repetitorium." The reader is given a rapid bird's-eye view of the subject with a few of the interesting applications strongly highlighted.

   • 1952, Erwin Schrödinger, Statistical Thermodynamics, page 1:

     The interest is focused on the general procedure, and examples are dealt with as illustrations thereof. It is not a first introduction for newcomers to the subject, but rather a 'repetitorium'.

   • 2007, Markus Banagl, Topological Invariants of Stratified Spaces, →ISBN, page 99:

     We emphasize that this chapter is not an introduction to differential topology, but merely a repetitorium.

   • 2013, Anja-Silvia Goeing, Anthony T. Grafton, Paul Michel, Collectors’ Knowledge: What Is Kept, What Is Discarded, →ISBN, page 234:

     This implies that the students possibly read other books about the topic in or outside class, including Aristotle's text, in addition to this repetitorium.