contemporarius

Forms

contemporārius (feminine contemporāria, neuter contemporārium); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + temporārius (“of time”).^[2] Wiktionary instead derives it directly from tempus (“time”) with the suffix -ārius.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it to about 1450, from Latham's word-list.^[3] The chronicle of Adam Usk, in its account of 1399, calls a brother, Thomas Prestbury, the writer's contemporary at Oxford.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is a Medieval Latin word, used as a noun, “a contemporary”,^[4][3] and as an adjective.^[1] It is the source of English contemporary, first recorded in the 1630s,^[2] and of German kontemporär.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1450 – Köbler dates its first record to about this time.^[3]
• 1630s – English borrows it as contemporary.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Medieval Latin) Contemporary.^[1]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A contemporary.^[4][3]

Usage notes

The older words were contemporalis and contemporaneus.^[5][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften