temptation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English temptacioun, also tentacioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French temptacion (12th century; in modern French tentation),^[3][5][6] and also directly from Latin temptātiō (“a testing, trial”),^[3][5][2] a noun of action from the past participle of temptō (“to feel, try out, test”),^[3][5][7] a variant of tentō (“to handle, touch, try, test”).^[3][8] The Latin verb is the source of tempt; de Vaan, quoted by Etymonline, derives it from a root meaning "to touch, feel", perhaps Proto-Indo-European *temp- (“to stretch”).^[3] Anglo-Norman temptaciun is recorded from the first half of the 12th century for temptation, the allure of sin or evil, and in phrases such as to lead into temptation.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

An instance of being tempted, especially to sin: about 1230, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[5] Etymonline dates the word to about 1200, for the act of enticing someone to sin and for the state of being tempted.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Middle English word kept the Latin idea of testing: its first sense in the MED is the testing of someone's faith or character, or of God's forbearance,^[2] and the OED records "trial, test" from the Wycliffite Bible of about 1384, a sense now obsolete or archaic.^[5] From 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwit, it meant the action of tempting or being tempted, enticement.^[5] Chaucer used it thirteen times.^[10] A thing that tempts is dated about 1500 by Etymonline,^[3] while the OED's first record is from 1600, in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice,^[5] and a severe trial or affliction from about 1595 to 1652.^[5] Although tempt stayed close to Latin, temptation was often spelled tentation in Middle and early Modern English, a form much used by theological writers in the 16th and 17th centuries.^[3][6] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the act of tempting; sollicitation to ill; enticement" and "the state of being tempted".^[11] In East Anglian dialect it meant a trial.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – the act of enticing to sin; the state of being tempted.^[3]
• c. 1230 – an instance of temptation (Ancrene Riwle).^[5]
• 1340 – the action of tempting or being tempted; enticement.^[5]
• c. 1384 – a testing, trial (Wycliffite Bible).^[5]
• c. 1430 – tempting quality (Lydgate; rare).^[5]
• c. 1500 – something that tempts.^[3]
• c. 1595 – a severe trial, an affliction (obsolete by 1652).^[5]
• 1600 – a thing that tempts (Shakespeare).^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The wish to do something, especially something wrong or unwise: She fought the temptation to read his diary.
2. The act of tempting someone, or the state of being tempted, especially to sin or evil.
3. Something that tempts; an enticement or allurement.
4. the Temptation: the tempting of Jesus by the devil in the wilderness.

Word family

• temptational

Related words

• tempt
• tempter
• temptress

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 e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ 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)