temeritas

Forms

temeritās f (genitive temeritātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin temere (“blindly, rashly”) + -tās.^[2][1] De Vaan explains temere as a frozen locative of a noun ⟨*temes-⟩ “darkness”, from Proto-Italic *temesi and Proto-Indo-European *temH-os- (“darkness”): “in the dark”, hence “blindly”.^[3] Cognate with Sanskrit तमस् (támas-, “darkness”) and Lithuanian tamsà (“darkness”), and within Latin with tenebrae.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Mercator: ineptia stultitiaque adeo et temeritās, “folly and stupidity and rashness” among the vices of lovers.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is rashness and thoughtlessness, and of opinions their lack of foundation (Cicero).^[2] In a better light it is boldness, readiness to take risks, as when Celsus says that some remedies must be seized with a certain boldness.^[2] An older sense, from temere “at random”, is chance or accident: in Pacuvius some claim that everything happens by chance, and Cicero contrasts temeritās with order in nature.^[2][4]

Church Latin glosses it “rashness, chance, recklessness, accident”.^[5] In medieval law it was a serious offence punished by a fine, especially bloodshed.^[6] English temerity dates from the early 15th century.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of the rashness of lovers.^[2][8]
• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius in the sense “chance”.^[2][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of baseless opinions.^[2][8]
• early 15th century – English temerity.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. rashness, recklessness, thoughtlessness; baselessness (of opinions).^[2][1][5]
2. Boldness, readiness to take risks.^[2]
3. Chance, accident, randomness.^[2][4][5]
4. (Medieval Latin, law) An offence punished by a fine, especially bloodshed.^[6]

Related words

• temerāriē
• temerārius
• temerātor
• temere
• temeriter
• temeritūdō
• tenebrae
• English temerity

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de