English
temperature
Temperature is borrowed from Latin temperātūra ‘due measure, proportion’, from the past participle stem of temperō ‘to temper, moderate’.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tempos‘stretch; period of time’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtemperō‘to temper, moderate’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtemperātūra‘due or proper measure’past participle stem of temperō
- Englishearliest quotation 1624temperature
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tempos‘stretch; period of time’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtemperō‘to temper, moderate’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtemperātūra‘due or proper measure’past participle stem of temperō
- Englishearliest quotation 1624temperature
Earliest quotation: 1624, Democritus Junior pseudonym; Robert Burt, The Anatomy of Melancholy: […]: “Our intemperence it is that pulls so many several…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *temp- ‘to stretch, string’
antenna, temporal, contemplate, contemplation, templar, contemporaneous, 24 more
through Proto-Italic *tempos ‘stretch’
contemporary, temple, temporary, tense, tempo, template, matin, tempura, 19 more
through Latin tempero ‘to temper’
Today it means
noun A measure of cold or heat, often measurable with a thermometer.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Italic *tempos / temperature