temperance

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English temperaunce,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman temperaunce,^{[4][5][6][7][8]} from Latin temperantia (“moderation, self-control”),^[4][5][8][9] from temperāns, the present participle of temperō (“to moderate, restrain, mix”), the source of temper.^[4][5][3][6] The MED also names Old French temprance as a source.^[2] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from the first half of the 12th century, already for moderation, the cardinal virtue, mild weather and the tuning of an instrument;^[10] the OED cites temperaunce in Robert Grosseteste before 1250.^[4] Cicero used the Latin word to translate Ancient Greek σωφροσύνη (sōphrosúnē, “soundness of mind, moderation”), which Plato and the Stoics counted among the four cardinal virtues.^[4][8][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Self-restraint and moderation in action, opinion or feeling: before 1340, in Richard Rolle's Psalter;^[4] in 1340 the Ayenbite of Inwyt used it for restraint in indulging an appetite or desire.^[4][8] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-14th century,^[5] and Dictionary.com to 1200–1250.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The word came into English through the medieval treatises on the cardinal virtues, in which Latin temperantia was one of the four;^[4] the OED notes that it was not a word of the Latin Bible.^[4] In late Middle English it also meant the mingling of things in due proportion (1398–1596), a balanced state or constitution (1471–1638) and the mildness of a climate (about 1440–1616), senses later taken over by temperament and temperature.^[4][5] The English Bible versions from Tyndale onward used it for Ancient Greek ἐγκράτεια (enkráteia, “self-mastery”), and English writers used it to render Latin continentia and abstinentia.^[4][8][5] From 1542 it was applied especially to moderation in eating and drinking,^[4] and Johnson (1755) defined it first as moderation opposed to gluttony and drunkenness.^[12] By the early 19th century it meant total abstinence from alcohol, the aim of a social movement:^[8][5] Barnhart dates temperance society to 1831 and temperance movement to 1855.^[8] From 1907 it was also used as an adjective for someone who abstains from alcohol.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1340 – self-restraint, moderation; one of the cardinal virtues.^[4]
• 1340 – moderation in indulging an appetite, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt.^[4][8]
• 1398 – the tempering or mixing of things in due proportion (obsolete by 1596).^[4]
• c. 1440 – mildness of weather or climate (obsolete by 1616).^[4]
• 1542 – moderation in eating and drinking.^[4]
• 1831 – temperance society, for abstinence from alcohol.^[8]
• 1907 – adjective, practising total abstinence.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Moderation and self-restraint in action, thought or feeling, especially in yielding to one's appetites; one of the four cardinal virtues.^[13][3][4]
2. Moderation in drinking alcohol, or complete abstinence from it: She joined a temperance society as a young woman.^[13][3][4]
3. (obsolete) Mildness of weather or climate.^[4][2]

Word family

• antitemperance

Related words

• temper
• temperament
• temperamental
• temperature
• temperate
• intemperance
• teetotal

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins