intemperies

Forms

intemperiēs f (genitive intemperiēī); fifth declension^[1] A plural intemperiae, -ārum (first declension) occurs in Plautus, Cato and Gellius;^[2] Gellius also has the accusative intemperiēs.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + temperiēs (“due measure, mildness”).^[2][3] temperiēs belongs with temperō (“to moderate”) and tempus (“time”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *tempos- (“stretch, measure”) and Proto-Indo-European *temp-os (“stretch”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest citation in the OLD is Plautus' Aulularia, with the plural for madness: nescio pol quae illunc hominem intemperiae tenent, “I don't know what madness has hold of that man”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Of weather and climate it is lack of temperateness, inclemency or excess:^[2] Cato has a prayer to ward off calamities and bad weather, and Livy has an inclement sky and immoderate rains.^[2][5] Plautus uses it by transfer for a storm, a calamity, that has come upon a house.^[5] Seneca applies it to a disordered state of the body.^[2] Of the mind it is an intemperate state, madness, as in Plautus,^[2] and of conduct outrageous behaviour or excess, as Cicero's friend whose outrageous behaviour he would not put up with.^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of madness and of a calamity.^[2][5][3]
• 234–149 BC – Cato, of bad weather in a prayer.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a friend's outrageous behaviour.^[2][3]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of an inclement sky.^[5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Of weather: lack of temperateness, inclemency; a storm, calamity.^[2][5][1]
2. A disordered state of the body.^[2]
3. An intemperate state of mind, madness.^[2][5][1]
4. Outrageous behaviour, excess.^[2][5][1]

Related words

• temperiēs
• temperō
• intemperantia

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press