English
temporal
Temporal comes from Middle English temporal ‘transitory, worldly, material, of secular…’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500temporal‘transitory, worldly, material, of secular society’
- Englishearliest quotation 1611temporal
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500temporal‘transitory, worldly, material, of secular society’
- Englishearliest quotation 1611temporal
Earliest quotation: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “The things which are seen are temporal, but the…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *temp- ‘to stretch, string’
antenna, contemplate, contemplation, templar, 21 more
through Proto-Italic *tempos ‘stretch’
temperature, temperament, tamper, temperate, temperance, tempera, contemporaneously, 14 more
through Latin tempus ‘time, period, opportunity’
temple, tense, contemporary, temper, template, matin, contemporaneous, tempestuous, tempura, 13 more
Another origin of temporal
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*temp-‘to stretch, string’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tempos‘stretch’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtempusas tempora‘the temples of the head’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEtemporālis‘of or belonging to time, lasting but for a time, temporary, temporal’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600timporal
- Englishtodaytemporal
Today it means
adj Of or relating to the material world, as opposed to sacred or clerical.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English temporal / temporal