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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word temporal

temporal1 temporal bone

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1843 Kretzulescu's Manual de anatomie descriptivă
Borrowed from
French temporal
Ultimate origin
Latin tempus

Forms

temporal m or n (feminine singular temporală, masculine plural temporali, feminine/neuter plural temporale)[1]

Etymology

The word for the temporal bone is borrowed from French temporal, the French anatomical adjective.[2][3][4][5] French has had it since 1520, with an older form around 1363, from Late Latin temporalis, made from Latin tempus in its sense “temple” to serve as the adjective of tempe (“temple”).[6] Marcu and Maneca also compare the Latin word directly, and Scriban gives the Latin word as the source of both Romanian adjectives.[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in N. A. Kretzulescu's anatomy manual of 1843, which speaks of the temporal hollow and calls the bones tamporalii.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to anatomy: as an adjective it describes what lies at or belongs to the temples, and os temporal is the paired bone of the skull between the occipital, parietal and sphenoid; the noun, neuter in DEX, names that bone.[2][3] Older texts spell it tamporal and timporal, the latter in Polizu's dictionary.[3]

Timeline

  • 1843 – tamporal “of the temples” and the noun tamporalii “temporal bones” in Kretzulescu's anatomy manual.[3][4]
  • 1857 – the spelling timporal in Polizu's dictionary.[3]
  • 1939 – Scriban lists the anatomical adjective (oasele temporale).[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The temporal bone, the paired bone at the side of the skull, in the region of the temples.[2][8]

Adjective

  1. Of the temples, belonging to the region of the temples: os temporal “temporal bone”, artere temporale.[2][3]

temporal2 of time

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1848 Negulici's dictionary, as timporal
Borrowed from
French temporel
Ultimate origin
Latin tempus

Forms

temporal m or n (feminine singular temporală, masculine plural temporali, feminine/neuter plural temporale)[1]

Etymology

The word for “of time” is borrowed from French temporel.[2][3][4][1] French borrowed it around 1190 from Latin temporalis “lasting only for a time”, also the grammarians' term “denoting time”, which Church Latin opposed to “eternal”.[6][9] The Latin adjective is formed on tempus (“time”) with the suffix -ālis.[1] Scriban gives the Latin word itself as the source.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is the variant timporal in Negulici's dictionary of 1848, in the sense “relating to time”.[3] Heliade-Rădulescu used the word for “passing, not eternal”: „A trebuit să vie o moarte temporală Ca iarna după toamnă” “a temporal death had to come, as winter after autumn”.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Its first senses came from the Church contrast of time and eternity: “passing, transient”, then “lay, secular” as opposed to “ecclesiastical”, and “material, earthly” as opposed to “spiritual”, as in puterea temporală a papilor “the temporal power of the popes”; these are now dated.[3][4][7][10] The modern sense “relating to time, situated in time”, opposed to “spatial”, is the one in use, and grammar has the propoziție temporală “temporal clause” and the conjuncție temporală “temporal conjunction”.[3][2] Old variants are timporal and timpural, the latter in Baronzi.[3]

Timeline

  • 1848 – timporal “relating to time” in Negulici.[3]
  • 1870 – Costinescu glosses it “passing with time; secular, lay”.[11]
  • 1886 – Barcianu renders it German zeitlich, irdisch.[12]
  • 1929 – Șăineanu lists the senses “perishable”, “earthly” and “secular”.[10]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Relating to time, situated in time or depending on it.[2][4]
  2. (grammar) Indicating time: propoziție temporală “temporal clause”, also as a feminine noun, o temporală;[1] conjuncție temporală “temporal conjunction”.[2][3]
  3. (dated) transient, passing; secular, lay, earthly as opposed to spiritual.[4][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1116
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. temporal
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1198
  5. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. temporal
  6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b c d Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1310
  8. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. temporal
  9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 647
  11. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 606
  12. ^ Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 642

Related etymologies

  • cap · also from French
  • dura · also from French
  • pur · also from French
  • pană · also from French
  • pat · also from French
  • masă · also from French
  • lac · also from French
  • primar · also from French
Cite this entry

“Temporal.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/temporal. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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