Etymologically
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contemporary

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /kənˈtem.pər.ər.i/, US /kənˈtem.pə.rer.i/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin contemporārius,[2][3][4] formed from con- “together” and temporārius “of time”,[2][5] from tempus “time”,[2][5] after Latin contemporāneus and Late Latin contemporālis.[3][4] It is related to temporary and contemporaneous.[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Living or happening at the same time, with “with”: 1631 in the OED, Barnhart and MWU, the 1630s in Etymonline.[6][5][7][2]

Semantic evolution

From the mid-17th century until after the 1750s the form cotemporary largely replaced contemporary, which became usual again in the later 18th century.[5][2] The noun, a person living at the same time, is from before 1635, first as cotemporary.[5][2] English had earlier used contemporanie (early 15th century) and the native time-fellow (1570s).[2] Equal in age is from before 1667.[6] The meaning “modern, of the present time”, of art and literature, is from 1805 in Etymonline and 1866 in the OED,[2][6] and in the 1950s it was a fashionable word for up-to-date design.[6]

Timeline

  • 1631 – of the same time.[6][5]
  • 1635 – noun, a person of the same time (as cotemporary).[5]
  • 1662 – the form cotemporary.[6]
  • 1805 – modern, of the present.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Belonging to the present time; modern.
  2. Living or happening at the same time as something else.
  3. Of about the same age.

Noun

  1. A person who lived at the same time as another, or who is about the same age.

Word family

  • contemporarily
  • contemporariness
  • contemporize
  • noncontemporary
  • ultracontemporary
  • uncontemporary

Usage notes

The AHD warns that used of the past, contemporary can be unclear: contemporary critics of Shakespeare may be critics of his time or of ours.[8]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin