temporalis

Forms

temporālis (neuter temporāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin tempus + -ālis, formed on the stem ⟨tempor-⟩ of the noun for time.^[2][3] De Vaan derives tempus from Proto-Italic *tempos- (“stretch, measure”) and Proto-Indo-European *temp-os (“stretch”), a noun that came to mean a stretch of time.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro is the first to use it (de Vaan: “Varro+”), as a grammatical term: in De lingua Latina he speaks of the system of the verba temporalia, the verbs that mark time.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Its general sense, “lasting only for a time, temporary”, is chiefly post-Augustan: Seneca has it of what a passing cause kindles, Tacitus of praise.^[2][4] In law it described an action or term subject to a time limit, and a loss due to the lapse of time.^[2] Apuleius already contrasts the temporal with the eternal,^[2] and in Christian and medieval Latin it meant worldly, secular or earthly, as opposed to spiritual;^[5][6] the neuter plural temporalia named the temporalities, the secular property and income, of a church.^[6] Through Old French and directly from Latin it gave English temporal.^[7]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of verbs denoting time.^[2][3][8]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it for “temporary”.^[2][8]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius sets the temporal against the eternal.^[2][8]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian speaks of loss due to the lapse of time.^[2][8]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as temporal “worldly, secular”.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (grammar) Denoting time, temporal.^[2]
2. Lasting only for a limited time, temporary.^[2][4]
3. (law) Subject to a time limit.^[2]
4. Belonging to the temporal world, as opposed to the eternal.^[2]
5. Due to the lapse of time.^[2]
6. (Medieval Latin) Worldly, secular, earthly; material.^[6][5]
7. (Medieval Latin) Happening at the right moment.^[6]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin, neuter plural) temporalia: the temporalities of a church.^[6]

Word family

• contemporālis
• extemporālis
• intemporālis
• temporalitas
• temporāliter

Related words

• English temporal

Usage notes

Georges and Gaffiot have a second, unrelated temporālis “of the temples of the head”, from tempus “temple”, found in Vegetius' veterinary treatise (venae temporales).^[9][10]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c d e 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
10. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.