tempestas

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [tɛmˈpɛs.taːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [temˈpɛs.tas]^[1]

Forms

tempestās f (genitive tempestātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from an older *tempos, *tempes- (whence tempus “time”) with the suffix -tās.^[1][2] A collateral form ⟨tempestūs⟩, ⟨-ūtis⟩ is reported, and the genitive plural is often ⟨tempestātium⟩.^[3][2] Isidore says it means either “time” or a state of the sky lasting many days.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is the Law of the Twelve Tables, which he dates about 450 BC, and Gaffiot cites it from Gellius for the sense “a space of time”.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It meant a period of time, season, occasion, as eā tempestāte “at that time”, a sense Cicero calls archaic.^[2][6] From Ennius it meant the weather, and in Plautus the Tempestātēs were personified as deities.^[2] Its commonest sense was bad weather, a storm, and figuratively a violent disturbance in personal or political life, both from Plautus onwards, and in Virgil a storm of battle.^[2] Döderlein explains that procella is a mere squall, tempestās a complete storm, generally with thunder and lightning, rain or hail.^[7]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a storm, tempest.^[8] Through Vulgar Latin and Old French tempeste it gave English tempest in the late 13th century.^[9] It survives in Italian tempesta, French tempête and Spanish tempestad.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Law of the Twelve Tables uses it of time.^[5][6]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a storm.^[2][5]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of the weather.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a storm of battle.^[2][5]
• late 13th century – English tempest is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A period of time, season, eā tempestāte, at that time.^[2]
2. The weather, Tempestātēs, the weather deities.^[2]
3. A storm, tempest.^[2]
4. A violent disturbance, upheaval.^[2]
5. A storm of battle; a violent illness.^[2]

Word family

• tempestīvus
• tempestuōsus

Related words

• tempus
• procella
• English tempest

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 l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
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 Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com