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temerity [temerity 词源字典]: temerity: [15] Someone who behaves with temerity is etymologically acting in the ‘dark’. The word was adapted from Latin temeritās ‘rashness’, a derivative of temere ‘blindly’, hence ‘rashly’. This in turn was formed from an unrecorded *temus ‘darkness’, a relative of tenebrae ‘darkness’, and hence originally denoted ‘acting in the dark, so that one cannot see’.
[temerity etymology, temerity origin, 英语词源]
temper: temper: [OE] The verb temper was borrowed into Old English from Latin temperāre ‘mix, blend’. This seems originally to have meant ‘mix in due proportion’, and so may have been derived from Latin tempus ‘time, due time’ (source of English temporary). The noun temper was derived from the verb in the 14th century in the sense ‘mixture of elements’, and this led on in the 17th century to ‘set of mental traits’ (a meaning that has now largely passed to the derivative temperament [15]).

The modern sense ‘ill humour’ emerged from this in the 19th century. Another meaning of Latin temperāre was ‘restrain oneself’, which has come through into the derivatives temperance [14] and temperate [14]. Other relatives include distemper and temperature. Tamper probably originated as an alteration of temper.
=> distemper, tamper, tempera, temperature
tempera: tempera: see distemper
temperature: temperature: [16] Like its relatives temper and temperament, temperature originally meant ‘mixture’ (Philemon Holland in 1601 wrote of ‘a temperature of brass and iron together’). The modern sense ‘degree of heat’ emerged in the late 17th century, and seems to have evolved from another early and now obsolete sense, ‘mild weather’. This reflected the ‘restraint’ strand of meaning in the word’s ultimate source, Latin temperāre, which also survives in English temperance and temperate.
=> temper
tempest: tempest: [13] Latin tempestās started off meaning nothing more alarming than ‘period of time’ (it was a derivative of tempus ‘time’, source of English temporary). Gradually, however, it progressed via ‘weather’ to ‘bad weather, storm’. Tempus moved in to take its place in the neutral sense ‘weather’, and provides the word for ‘weather’ in modern French (temps), Italian (tempo), Spanish (tiempo), and Romanian (timp). Other languages whose word for ‘weather’ comes from a term originally denoting ‘time’ include Russian (pogoda), Polish (czas), Czech (počasí), Latvian (laiks), and Breton (amzer).
=> temporary
temple: temple: Temple for worship [OE] and temple at the side of the head [14] are distinct words. The former was borrowed from Latin templum, which originated as a term relating to divination, used by priests in ancient times. It denoted a space marked out or ‘cut’ out as suitable for making observations on which auguries were based – some say a space marked out on the ground, others a section of the night sky.

It probably came ultimately from the base *tem- ‘cut’, which also produced Greek témein ‘cut’ and the English suffix -tomy ‘surgical cutting’. It has found its way into most western European languages, including German, Dutch, Swedish, and Danish tempel and Welsh teml as well as the Romance languages. Temple ‘area at the side of the head’ comes via Old French temple from Vulgar Latin *tempula, an alteration of tempora, the plural of Latin tempus.

This of course originally meant ‘time’ (English gets temporary from it), and it seems that the sense ‘area at the side of the head’ arose via an intermediate ‘appropriate time, proper period’, hence ‘right place (for dealing someone a fatal blow)’.
=> tome; temporary
temporary: temporary: [16] Temporary was adapted from Latin temporārius, a derivative of tempus ‘time’. The origins of this are not certain, but it could go back ultimately to the prehistoric base *ten- ‘stretch’ (source of English tend, tense, thin, etc), in which case it would denote etymologically a ‘stretch of time’. Other English derivatives include extempore, tempest, temple ‘side of the head’, tempo [18] (via Italian), temporal [14], and tense ‘verb category’.
=> extempore, tempest, temple, tempo, tense
ten: ten: [OE] Ten is part of a general European family of ‘ten’-words which goes back ultimately to prehistoric Indo-European *dekm. This also produced Greek déka (source of English dean and decade and the prefix deca-), Latin decem (source of English December, decimal, decimate, dime, etc), and Russian désyat’. Its Germanic descendant was *tekhan, which has evolved into German zehn, Dutch tien, Swedish tio, Danish ti, and English ten. Also related are teen and tithe.
=> dean, decade, december, decimal, decimate, dime, teen, tithe
tenant: tenant: [14] A tenant is etymologically a ‘holder’. The word comes from Old French tenant, a noun use of the present participle of tenir ‘hold’. This in turn went back to Latin tenēre ‘hold’, a descendant of the Indo-European base *ten- ‘stretch, extend’ (source also of English tend, tense, thin, etc). Also from Latin tenēre come English tenacious [16], tenement [14], tenet [17], and tenor, not to mention contain, continue, detain, maintain, obtain, retain, etc, while French tenir has additionally produced tenable [16], tenon [15], tenure [15], and probably tennis.
=> contain, continue, detain, maintain, obtain, retain, tenable, tenacious, tend, tenement, tenet, tennis, tenon, tenor, tense, tenure, thin
tend: tend: English has two distinct words tend, but they come from the same ultimate source. Tend ‘look after’ [14] is short for attend, which goes back to Latin compound verb based on tendere ‘stretch’ – source of English tend ‘have an inclination’ [14]. Tendere itself was descended from the Indo-European base *ten- ‘stretch’ (source also of English tenant, tenuous, thin, tone, tune, etc), and its other contributions to English include contend [15], distend [14], extend, intend, portend [15], pretend, and also ostensible, tendency [17], tense, tension, and tent.
=> contend, distend, extend, intend, ostensible, portend, pretend, tenant, tense, tent, tenterhooks, tenuous, thin, tone, tune
tender: tender: English has two distinct words tender, both of which go back ultimately to the Indo- European base *ten- ‘stretch’. The adjective, ‘delicate, fragile’ [13], comes via Old French tendre from Latin tener ‘delicate’, a descendant of *ten- and source also of English tendril [16] (etymologically a ‘tender’ shoot). The verb, ‘offer’ [16], comes from another Old French tendre, which went back to Latin tendere ‘stretch, hold out’ (source of English tend, tendency, etc).
=> tenant, tend, tendril
tenement: tenement: see tenant
tenet: tenet: see tenant
tennis: tennis: [14] The earliest recorded English forms of the word tennis include tenetz, teneys, and tenes. These suggest that it probably came from tenez, the imperative plural of Old French tenir ‘hold’, hence ‘receive’, supposedly shouted by the server to his opponent as a warning to get ready to receive the ball. The word originally referred, of course, to what is now known as real tennis (in which the real does simply mean ‘real’; it has no connection, as is often claimed, with obsolete English real ‘royal’); it was first applied to the newly invented outdoor game in 1874, in the compound lawn tennis, and this was soon shortened to simply tennis.
=> tenant
tenon: tenon: see tenant
tenor: tenor: [13] Latin tenor was derived from the verb tenēre ‘hold’ (source also of English tenacious, tenant, etc), and so etymologically denoted ‘that which is held to’, hence a ‘continuous course’. This evolved in due course into the ‘general sense or import’ of a piece of speech or writing, in which sense English acquired it via Anglo- Norman tenur. The musical term tenor, which is basically the same word, arrived in the 14th century via Italian tenore and Old French tenor. It denotes etymologically the voice that ‘holds’ the melodic line.
=> tenant
tense: tense: English has two separate words tense. The older, ‘verb form indicating time’ [14], came via Old French tens from Latin tempus ‘time’ (source also of English temporal, temporary, etc). The original meaning ‘time’ survived into English, but died out in the early 16th century. The adjective tense [17] was adapted from tensus, the past participle of Latin tendere ‘stretch’ (source also of English tend, tendency, etc). It originally meant simply ‘stretched tight’, and the metaphorical ‘strained’ did not emerge until the 19th century. Tension [16] comes from the Latin derivative tensiō.
=> temporary; tend
tent: tent: [13] A tent is etymologically something that is ‘stretched’ – over a frame to provide shelter. The word comes via Old French tente from Vulgar Latin *tenta, a noun derived from the past participial stem of Latin tendere ‘stretch’ (source of English tend, tendency, etc). It was supposedly inspired by the expression pelles tendere, literally ‘stretch skins’, that is, ‘stretch animal hides over a framework to make a tent’, which was used metaphorically for ‘set up a camp’.
=> tend
tenterhooks: tenterhooks: [15] A tenterhook is one of a set of hooks used to hold cloth taut on a frame during manufacture, especially while its dries (tenter comes from medieval Latin tentorium, a derivative of Latin tendere ‘stretch’). The metaphorical use of on tenterhooks to mean ‘in a state of agonizing suspense’ dates from the mid- 18th century.
tenth: tenth: see tithe