Etymologically
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tempt

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tempten, also tenten,[2][3] borrowed from Old French tempter,[4][5][6][7] and directly borrowed from Latin temptō (“to handle, touch, feel, test, try”).[6][5][8] The OED explains tempter, used from the 12th to the 14th centuries, as a learned form beside the popular tenter;[4] the English verb has always kept the Latin spelling with p.[4][6] The Anglo-Norman verb, recorded from the early 12th century, already meant to put to the test, to tempt God, to allure to sin, and to probe a wound.[9] The Latin verb also gave Catalan tentar, Spanish tentar, Portuguese tentar and Italian tentare.[4] It also had the form tentō; the OED says that inscriptions and early manuscripts never have the spelling with n, which spread among scribes about the 13th century, helped by a supposed derivation from tendō (“to stretch”), which is now rejected in favour of a separate root.[4] Barnhart takes it as a frequentative of an unattested *tempō, from Proto-Indo-European *temp- (“to stretch, extend”),[6] and Etymonline reports de Vaan's reconstruction Proto-Indo-European *tempto-, from a root meaning "to touch, feel", for which the root "to stretch" is a good candidate.[5] Merriam-Webster relates the Latin verb to tempus (“time”).[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To try to draw a person into evil or sin: about 1230, in the Ancrene Riwle,[4][6] or about 1200 in Etymonline, of the devil and the flesh.[5] The OED notes that this sense, a late development in Latin and common in the Vulgate and in Christian use, is the earliest one in English.[4]

Semantic evolution

The older Latin sense "to test, try" came into English after the religious one: to tempt God, to test His patience presumptuously, appears before 1340 in Richard Rolle,[4] and the plain sense "to put to the test" in the Wycliffite Bible of 1382, which says that God temptide Abraham;[4][11] that sense was obsolete by 1700.[4][10] Tempt also meant "to attempt, try" from the 1380s to the 16th century, partly as a shortened form of attempt.[4][12] To tempt fate or fortune is recorded from 1603,[4] and to tempt Providence from the early 18th century.[13] Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) uses tempt for venturing into a peril, a chiefly poetic use.[4][14] In the Middle Ages the noun temptation was used especially of the Devil tempting Jesus in the wilderness.[13] Johnson (1755) gave as the first sense "to solicit to ill".[15] In Yorkshire, southern England and the Isle of Wight dialects the verb still meant "to attempt, try" around 1900.[14]

Timeline

  • c. 1230 – to entice someone to evil or sin.[4][6]
  • before 1340 – to tempt God, to test His power or patience presumptuously.[4]
  • 1382 – to put to the test or proof (now obsolete).[4][10]
  • c. 1384 – to try, attempt to do something (obsolete by 1538).[4][12]
  • 1597 – noun tempt, an attempt (obsolete by 1670).[4]
  • 1603 – to tempt fate, to tempt fortune.[4]
  • 1667 – to venture upon a danger, such as the sea, in Milton.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To try to persuade someone to do something wrong or unwise by the promise of pleasure or gain; to entice: The offer of easy money tempted him to cheat.[16][10][12]
  2. To attract or allure; to appeal to: Can I tempt you with a slice of cake?[16][12]
  3. To make someone inclined to do something: The rain tempted us to stay at home.[16][12]
  4. tempt fate, tempt fortune or tempt Providence: to risk provoking misfortune by acting rashly.[16][10][4]
  5. To test God presumptuously; to provoke or defy.[10][4]
  6. (obsolete, 1382–1700) To put to the test or proof.[4][10][12]
  7. (obsolete) To attempt, try.[4][12]

Word family

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  16. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins