tentativus

Forms

tentātīvus (feminine tentātīva, neuter tentātīvum, adverb tentātīvē); first/second-declension adjective^[1] Also spelled temptātīvus.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is from Latin temptō (“to handle, try, test”), formed on its past participle ⟨temptāt-⟩ with the suffix -īvus.^[3][1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler finds it first in Boethius, in the first quarter of the 6th century AD, meaning “trying, testing”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In medieval logic it often rendered Greek πειραστικός (peirastikós): tentativa, with dialectica or the like understood, was the art of argument by trial, and Alexander Neckam ascribes its teaching to Plato.^[3] Thomas Aquinas says that dialectic is “tentative” because it argues from principles foreign to its subject.^[5] The DMLBS also has the sense “purely experimental, academic”,^[3] and a charter of 1377 has temptativus meaning “deceitful”.^[6]

From Medieval Latin it passed into English as tentative in the 1580s,^[4] and Wiktionary lists Italian tentativo, French tentatif and German tentativ.^[1]

Timeline

• first quarter of the 6th century AD – Boethius uses it.^[2]
• 1377 – A charter uses temptativus for “deceitful”.^[6]
• 1580s – English borrows it as tentative.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to a trial or experiment; trying, testing; tentative.^[3][2][1]
2. (Medieval Latin, logic) Of argument by trial (as a feminine noun, the art of such argument).^[3][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) Purely experimental, academic.^[3]
4. (Medieval Latin) Deceitful, misleading.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e f g Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
6. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre