temperar

Forms

temperar (first-person singular present tempero, first-person singular preterite temperei, past participle temperado)^[1] The old texts write tenperar beside temperar, and the 15th century also has the syncopated temprar “to moderate”.^[2][3] Feijó (1734) still enters temprar beside temperar.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin temperō (“to mix in due proportion; to moderate”), recorded from the 13th century.^[2][3][1] Wiktionary and Nascentes describe it as a learned word.^[1][5] The oldest texts write it Old Galician-Portuguese tenperar.^[2][3]

The same Latin verb is Spanish templar, Catalan temprar and Italian temperare.^[6][1] The old Spanish form Old Spanish temprar was usual until about 1500.^[7][8] French tremper “to soak” comes by metathesis from Old French temprer, while tempérer is a later borrowing.^[9]

The Latin verb is derived from tempus (“time”).^[10] Wiktionary takes it as a denominative from the oblique stem of Proto-Italic *tempos.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria have vynno tenperou / con ervas “mixed wine with herbs”, and Houaiss dates the sense “to season” to the 13th century with the form tenperou.^[11][2] In a satirical song of Martin Soarez someone goes a cítola temperar, to tune the citole.^[11][12]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss dates to the 14th century the senses “to soften, lessen” and “to restrain oneself”, and to the 15th the figurative “to strengthen, harden the spirit”.^[2] Bluteau (1712–1728) has temperar ferro “to temper iron”, and Morais (1789) lists seasoning food, softening a taste, tuning an instrument and trimming the sails to the wind.^[13][14] Falconry once used it for conditioning a hawk.^[2]

The derived noun tempero “seasoning” is recorded from 1678.^[15] The negative destemperar is already in the 14th century.^[3] In the regional speech of Portugal the verb also means that the weather improves, to set the plough, and to thrash or punish.^[16]

Timeline

• 13th century – tenperou “seasoned” in the Cantigas de Santa Maria;^[2][11] temperar “to tune” in the satirical songs.^[2][11]
• 14th century – the senses “to soften” and “to restrain oneself”; first record of destemperar.^[2][3]
• 15th century – the syncopated temprar.^[2]
• 1513 – the Livro dos Mártires.^[17]
• 1678 – first record of the noun tempero.^[15]
• 1755 – Folqman has temperar o comer “to season food” and temperar huma viola “to tune a viola”.^[18]
• 1789 – Morais lists the culinary, musical and nautical senses.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To season food; to add seasoning.^[2][19][1]
2. To make a taste milder or weaker, as wine with water.^[2][20]
3. To lessen the strength of; to soften, mitigate.^[2][19]
4. To temper metal; to treat glass with heat to harden it.^[2][1]
5. To add one thing to another; to mix in due proportion.^[2][19]
6. To reconcile, harmonize; to combine qualities.^[2]
7. To make a situation more acceptable; to remedy.^[2]
8. To moderate or restrain;^[2][21] (pronominal) to restrain oneself.^[2][21]
9. (figurative) To strengthen, harden the spirit or will.^[2][20]
10. (music) To tune an instrument.^[2][21]

Word family

• tempero
• temperado
• destemperar
• destempero

Related words

• temperança
• temperamento
• têmpera
• Latin temperō
• Spanish templar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. temperar
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. temperar
4. ^ Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. temperar
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. temperar
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 489
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 457
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. templar
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. tremper
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. temperō
11. ^ a b c d Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. temperar
12. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. temperar
13. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. temperar
14. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 449
15. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. tempero
16. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. temperar
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. temperar
18. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. temperar
19. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. temperar
20. ^ a b Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. temperar
21. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8888