Etymologically
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temere

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈtɛ.mɛ.rɛ][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈtɛː.me.re][1]

Forms

temere (not comparable)[1] Ennius and Accius have an older temeriter.[2]

Etymology

It is a fossilised locative, inherited from Proto-Italic *temezi (“in darkness, blindly”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *témHos (“darkness”), so first “in the dark”.[3][1][4] The same root is in tenebrae (“darkness”).[3]

Cognate with Sanskrit तमस् (támas, “darkness”), Avestan təmah- (“darkness”) and Lithuanian tamsa (“darkness”).[3][1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.[3][5] Ennius has quō tam temere ītis?, “where are you going so rashly?”.[4]

Semantic evolution

Temere is “blindly, heedlessly, rashly” (Caecilius: nē temere hanc rem agās), “without reason or good cause”, and “at random, by chance” (Cicero: paints splashed at random on a board could make the outline of a face).[4][2][1] With a negative, nōn temere means “not readily, not easily”, so “hardly ever”.[4]

Church Latin glosses it “by chance, at random, rashly”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[3][5]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius: quō tam temere ītis?.[4][5]
  • 230/220–168 BC – Caecilius: nē temere hanc rem agās.[4][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of paints splashed at random.[4][5]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Blindly, rashly, heedlessly.[4][2][1][6]
  2. Without reason or cause.[4][1]
  3. At random, by chance.[4][1][6]
  4. nōn temere, not readily, not easily.[4]

Word family

  • temerāriē
  • temerātiō
  • temerātor
  • tenebrae

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e 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 f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson