[lit-ideas] Re: Temper and Temperature (Was: Heat and Hot)
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2011 00:32:21 EDT
In a message dated 6/6/2011 1:06:34 A.M. , jejunejesuit.geary2@xxxxxxxxx
writes:
So I suppose that makes me a temperer (which rhymes with emperor), given
that temperature is temperable (which rhymes with emperorable).
For the record:
temperature: coined in 1530, and defined, as the "fact of being tempered,"
BUT also as the "character or nature of a substance". From Latin
temperatura (cfr. 'implicatura'), "a tempering, moderation," itself from
temperatus,
past participle of temperare "to moderate" (see _temper_
(http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=temper) ). The 'sense' (or 'use') of
"temperature"
to mean, a "degree of heat or cold" is first recorded in 1670 (in Boyle,
"Letters to my wife"), from Low Latin, temperatura (cfr. implicatura) used in
this sense by the Italian philosopher and physicist, Galileo Galilei. The
'meaning' of 'temperature' as "fever, high temperature" ("Baby has a
temperature") is attested from 1898, possibly due to some accident.
_temper (v.)_ (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=temper)
(http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=temper)
late Old English temprian, "to bring to a proper or suitable state, to
modify some excessive quality, to restrain within due limits," from Latin,
temperare (introduced in England by St. Augustine), meaning, "to mix
correctly, moderate, regulate, blend." Usually described (since Bede) as
coming from
tempus "time, season" (of unknown origin -- but possibly Latin), with a
sense of "proper time or season," but the sense history is obscure -- if a
'sense' can be said to be 'obscure'. The meaning "to make (steel) hard and
elastic" is from late 14c. so rather late as languages go. The 'sense' of "to
tune the pitch of a musical instrument" is recorded from c.1300, and
applied to a (wooden) flute.
_temper (n.)_ (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=temper)
(http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=temper)
late 14c., "due proportion of elements or qualities," from _temper_
(http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=temper) (v.). The 'sense' of
"characteristic state of mind" (as in "She lost her temper" -- cfr. "She lost
her
temperature") is first recorded circa 1590s in "The Ballad of Joad O'Dowd",
that of "calm state of mind" in 1600; and that of "angry state of mind" (for
bad temper) in 1898, i.e. the same time when 'temperature' was starting,
clumsily, to be used for 'HIGH' temperature ("She used to have a temperature,
but she now has lost it"). The 'meaning' "degree of hardness and
resiliency in steel" is from late 15c. possibly from the French.
Speranza
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