temperamentum Latin · revision 32320

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=ine-pro *temp-os}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [tɛm.pɛ.raːˈmɛn.tũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [tem.pe.raˈmɛn.tum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''temperāmentum''' ''n'' (genitive temperāmentī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|temperō|-mentum|t1=to blend, moderate]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan explains [[m|la|temperō]] as a verb [[itc-pro|*tempes-āje-]] built on [[m|la|tempus]], from [[itc-pro|*tempos-|t=stretch, measure]] and [[ine-pro|*temp-os|t=stretch]]; the verb's sense of restraining and modifying shows the shift from stretching to measuring.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cicero has it first, in the ''De legibus'', of a compromise by which the humbler citizens thought themselves equal to the leading men.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a blend of things in due proportion, as Pliny the Elder says of a material that differs only in its mixture, and the consistency so reached.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Columella uses it of a mild temperature between heat and cold.^(OLD 2012) In conduct it is a compromise or mean, and moderation or balance, as Valerius Maximus praises Scaevola's restraint.^(OLD 2012) Lewis & Short note that it is mostly post-Augustan, where Cicero usually says [[temperatio|alt=temperātiō]].^(Lewis & Short 1879) In medieval texts it means temperament or character, and also rule or control.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Wiktionary) English took it as [[m|en|temperament]] in the late 14th century, first for a proportioned mixture of elements.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of a political compromise.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella of a temperate warmth.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of a mixture in due proportion.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * late 14th century – English [[m|en|temperament]] is borrowed from it.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|mixture]] in due proportion, blend; consistency.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A mean between heat and cold, mild [[m|en|temperature]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A [[m|en|compromise]] between extremes.^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # [[m|en|moderation|alt=Moderation]], restraint, balance.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' [[m|en|temperament|alt=Temperament]], disposition, character.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Rule, control.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}