Hold the picture of a sample first: one small piece taken out so that it can stand for the whole. A sampler is what you get when you put the -er on that. Sometimes the -er points at the thing made of samples — a plate with five little cakes, a disc with one minute of each song, a cloth with every stitch the knows. Sometimes it points at whoever does the taking — the worker who pulls one bag from each batch, the machine that draws a bottle of river water every hour, the box that keeps a second of sound so a musician can rebuild it. Small piece, whole story: that is the thread.
From the word’s history
Wiktionary records two routes that meet at the same Latin word. The sewing sampler comes through Old French essamplaire from Latin exemplāris, and is a doublet of exemplar. The other uses are simply sample + -er, where sample itself traces back through Old French to Latin exemplum. Both routes carry the idea of something set out as an example.
Wiktionary 記了兩條路，最後都通到同一個拉丁字。繡布的那個 sampler 走的是 Old French essamplaire、Latin exemplāris，和 exemplar（範例）是雙式詞。其他幾個意思則單純是 sample 加 -er，而 sample 自己也是經古法文回到 Latin exemplum。兩條路帶的都是同一個概念：拿出來當例子看的東西。
Wiktionary entry for 'sampler', etymology 1 (Old French essamplaire < Latin exemplāris; doublet of exemplar) and etymology 2 (sample + -er), supplied in this packet
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。