Etymologically
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contemporalis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔn.tɛm.pɔˈraː.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kon.tem.poˈraː.lis][1]

Forms

contemporālis (neuter contemporāle); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + tempus (“time”) + -ālis.[1][2] The TLL compares temporālis (“temporal”).[2] The noun goes back to Proto-Italic *tempos- (“stretch, measure”) and Proto-Indo-European *temp-os (“stretch”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Tertullian,[2][4] who uses it both as an adjective, “of the same time”, and as a noun pairing coaetaneos et contemporales “people of the same age and time”.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It remained a word of Christian writers: Tertullian says that matter would be coeval with God,[2] and Jerome's version of Eusebius' Chronicle states that Semiramis and Abraham were contemporaries.[2]

In Medieval Latin it kept both uses,[6][7] and also meant “corresponding in chronology”, of years of different kingdoms set side by side,[7] or an age-mate.[7] Wiktionary gives English contemporal as a borrowing of it.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it as adjective and noun.[2][4]
  • c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome's Chronicle calls Semiramis and Abraham contemporales.[2][4]
  • 1012–1018 – Thietmar describes a man as dear to all his contemporaries.[8][7][4]
  • 2nd half of the 12th century – Theodoric of Pöhlde uses it of years that correspond in time.[7][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of the same time, contemporary, coeval, with the genitive or dative.[5][9][2][10]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Corresponding in chronology.[7]

Noun

  1. A contemporary.[5][9][2]
  2. (Medieval Latin) An age-mate, a person of the same age.[7]

Usage notes

contemporaneus, first found in Gellius, has the same meaning.[11][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  9. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  10. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  11. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.