(tĕmˈpəl)
noun- The flat region on either side of the forehead.
- Either of the sidepieces of a frame for eyeglasses that extends along the temple and over the ear.
Word History: Words that are identical in form do not always derive from the same source, and when they have different sources they are usually considered different words. The
temple that refers to a place of worship, for example, does not have the same origin as the
temple that refers to a side of the forehead. The
temple where one worships comes from Latin
templum, itself derived from the Indo-European root
*tem-, “to cut, divide.” Latin
templum probably referred originally to the fact that temples were on sacred ground that was “divided” or separated from ordinary ground. The
temple of the head comes from the Latin word
tempus, “temple of the head.” Its origin is not certain; some have thought it to be a special use of the homonymous word
tempus “time” as a translation of Greek
kairios, “(proper) time, opportunity, vital spot,” but there is no hard evidence for this. What is known, and not uninteresting in itself, is how
tempus eventually became
temple in English. In Latin, the plural,
tempora, was more frequently used than the singular
tempus (it being more common to talk about paired body parts together rather than singly). There was a large class of Latin nouns ending in
-a in the singular, and this led to a reinterpretation of
tempora as a singular in later Latin, where it was also altered to
*tempula. This became
temple in Old French, whence English
temple (of the head) was borrowed, first appearing in 1310. The classical Latin form survives in the English adjective
temporal (as in
temporal bone or
temporal muscle).
