temperatura

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [tɛm.pɛ.raːˈtuː.ra]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [tem.pe.raˈtuː.ra]^[1]

Forms

temperātūra f (genitive temperātūrae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin tempero (“to mix in due proportion”) + -ūra.^[2][1] temperō comes from tempus, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *temp- (“to stretch”) or Proto-Indo-European *temh₁- (“to cut”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro uses it of the climate, caeli temperatura, in a fragment quoted by Nonius.^[3][4] Köbler dates Varro 116–27 BC, and gives Vitruvius as its first author.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant the mixing of things in due proportion, blending, and a mixture so made, as Vitruvius' preparation of red lead and Pliny's alloy of bronze.^[2][6] It also meant the regulation of something between extremes, including heat and cold.^[2] Lewis & Short note it is ante-classical and post-Augustan, beside classical temperātiō.^[3] Seneca uses it of the constitution of the body.^[3][4]

In medieval Latin it meant the temper of metal.^[7] In New Latin physics it took the sense of temperature.^[1] English temperature is recorded in the mid-15th century as the fact of being tempered, and later as a degree of heat.^[8]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of the climate.^[3][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of preparing red lead.^[6][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of the body's constitution.^[3][5]
• mid-15th century – English temperature is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Due mixture, blending, proportion; a temper, composition.^[2][3]
2. Regulation between extremes, including of heat.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) The temper of metal.^[7]
4. (New Latin, physics) temperature.^[1]

Related words

• temperō
• English temperature
• English temper

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com