Etymologically
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temperatura

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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]

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