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temperi

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word temperi

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin tempus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin tempus
French temps
Italian tempo
Latin temperi
From the same root
Latin intempestus ← tempus
French longtemps ← temps

Forms

temperī (comparative temperius, no superlative)[1] The form temporī is also found, in Cato and Cicero.[2][3][4] Plautus and Gellius also have tempere.[3] The comparative also appears as temporius, in Nepos and Columella.[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin tempus (“time”), an old locative case form of the noun.[2][1] Georges and Lewis & Short treat it as an old ablative instead.[3][4] De Vaan traces the noun to Proto-Italic *tempos- (“stretch, measure”) and Proto-Indo-European *temp-os (“stretch”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus, who uses it of coming or doing something at the appointed time, for instance of cooking a dinner in time in the Stichus.[4][6]

Semantic evolution

It was a word of comedy and of Cato,[3] who writes temporī of farm work finished in time.[4] The comparative temperius, “earlier, sooner”, is found in Cicero, Ovid and Columella.[6][3] In the Aulularia Plautus puns on the other sense of the noun tempus, the temple of the head.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the sense “at the right time”.[4][6][7]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses the form temporī.[4][3][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the comparative temperius, “earlier”.[6][3][7]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses the comparative.[6][7]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. At the right time, in good time, seasonably.[2][4]
  2. (comparative) Earlier, sooner, in better time.[2][6]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Temperi.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/temperi. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·