English
tempt
Tempt comes from Latin temptare, from tentare ‘to handle, touch, try, test, tempt’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *téndeti.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*téndetireconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tendō‘to stretch’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtendōas tendere, frequentative‘to stretch’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtentare‘to handle, touch, try, test, tempt’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtemptare
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400tempter
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tempten‘to tempt’
- Englishearliest quotation 1712tempt
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*téndetireconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tendō‘to stretch’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtendōas tendere, frequentative‘to stretch’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtentare‘to handle, touch, try, test, tempt’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtemptare
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400tempter
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tempten‘to tempt’
- Englishearliest quotation 1712tempt
Earliest quotation: 1712, Joseph Addison, Cato: “By Heav’ns, ſuch Virtues, join’d with ſuch Succeſs, Diſtract…”
Linked words
through Proto-Italic *tendō ‘to stretch’
pretend, extend, attendance, intend, tender, intentional, contend, hypertension, pretense, hypotension, inattention, pretension, entendre, portend, 27 more
through Latin tendō ‘to stretch’
attention, extensive, extension, tend, extent, intention, tension, tense, contention, tensor, tensile, extensible, entente, portent, détente, detent, 43 more
through Latin tentare ‘to handle, touch, try, test, tempt’
through Old French tempter
Today it means
verb To provoke someone to do wrong, especially by promising a reward; to entice.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *téndeti / tempt