intempestive

Forms

intempestīvē (comparative intempestīvius); adverb^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin intempestīvus (“untimely”) + -ē.^[3][4][5] De Vaan lists that adjective, attested from Plautus, among the derivatives of tempus (“time”), built like tempestīvus (“timely”) on its old s-stem.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero,^[7][1] who uses it in his letters, and in On Duties of people who come at the wrong moment, intempestīvē accēdentēs.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

It means at the wrong time, out of season, inopportunely.^[3][10][8] Livy uses it of doing everything at the wrong moment,^[4][9] Ovid of tending the wounds of the mind,^[9][1] Seneca of sending back a gift,^[4] Phaedrus of jesting with a busy man,^[4] and Gellius of untimely frivolity.^[4] The negated form haud intempestīvē or nōn intempestīvē, “not unseasonably”, is in Velleius and Columella.^[4] The glossaries render it with ἀκαίρως (akaírōs).^[11]

British medieval writers used it for at the wrong time: Alexander Neckam says that a fly thrusts itself untimely into drinks and food.^[12] In Hungary the comparative was used of fruit that ripens too early.^[2]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of people who approach at the wrong time.^[8][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of doing everything inopportunely.^[4][7]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it in his letters from exile.^[1][7]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of untimely frivolity.^[4][7]

Meanings

Adverb

1. At the wrong time, unseasonably, inopportunely.^[3][10][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) Prematurely, too early.^[2]

Related words

• intempestīvus
• tempestīvē

References

1. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
2. ^ a b c Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T. (1890), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: American Book Company
10. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
12. ^ 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