tempus

See also: Tempus

Finnish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin tempus.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈtempus/, [ˈt̪e̞mpus̠]
  • Rhymes: -empus
  • Syllabification(key): tem‧pus
  • Hyphenation(key): tem‧pus

Noun

tempus (dated)

  1. (linguistics) tense

Declension

Inflection of tempus (Kotus type 39/vastaus, no gradation)
nominative tempus tempukset
genitive tempuksen tempusten
tempuksien
partitive tempusta tempuksia
illative tempukseen tempuksiin
singular plural
nominative tempus tempukset
accusative nom. tempus tempukset
gen. tempuksen
genitive tempuksen tempusten
tempuksien
partitive tempusta tempuksia
inessive tempuksessa tempuksissa
elative tempuksesta tempuksista
illative tempukseen tempuksiin
adessive tempuksella tempuksilla
ablative tempukselta tempuksilta
allative tempukselle tempuksille
essive tempuksena tempuksina
translative tempukseksi tempuksiksi
abessive tempuksetta tempuksitta
instructive tempuksin
comitative See the possessive forms below.
Possessive forms of tempus (Kotus type 39/vastaus, no gradation)
first-person singular possessor
singular plural
nominative tempukseni tempukseni
accusative nom. tempukseni tempukseni
gen. tempukseni
genitive tempukseni tempusteni
tempuksieni
partitive tempustani tempuksiani
inessive tempuksessani tempuksissani
elative tempuksestani tempuksistani
illative tempukseeni tempuksiini
adessive tempuksellani tempuksillani
ablative tempukseltani tempuksiltani
allative tempukselleni tempuksilleni
essive tempuksenani tempuksinani
translative tempuksekseni tempuksikseni
abessive tempuksettani tempuksittani
instructive
comitative tempuksineni
second-person singular possessor
singular plural
nominative tempuksesi tempuksesi
accusative nom. tempuksesi tempuksesi
gen. tempuksesi
genitive tempuksesi tempustesi
tempuksiesi
partitive tempustasi tempuksiasi
inessive tempuksessasi tempuksissasi
elative tempuksestasi tempuksistasi
illative tempukseesi tempuksiisi
adessive tempuksellasi tempuksillasi
ablative tempukseltasi tempuksiltasi
allative tempuksellesi tempuksillesi
essive tempuksenasi tempuksinasi
translative tempukseksesi tempuksiksesi
abessive tempuksettasi tempuksittasi
instructive
comitative tempuksinesi
first-person plural possessor
singular plural
nominative tempuksemme tempuksemme
accusative nom. tempuksemme tempuksemme
gen. tempuksemme
genitive tempuksemme tempustemme
tempuksiemme
partitive tempustamme tempuksiamme
inessive tempuksessamme tempuksissamme
elative tempuksestamme tempuksistamme
illative tempukseemme tempuksiimme
adessive tempuksellamme tempuksillamme
ablative tempukseltamme tempuksiltamme
allative tempuksellemme tempuksillemme
essive tempuksenamme tempuksinamme
translative tempukseksemme tempuksiksemme
abessive tempuksettamme tempuksittamme
instructive
comitative tempuksinemme
second-person plural possessor
singular plural
nominative tempuksenne tempuksenne
accusative nom. tempuksenne tempuksenne
gen. tempuksenne
genitive tempuksenne tempustenne
tempuksienne
partitive tempustanne tempuksianne
inessive tempuksessanne tempuksissanne
elative tempuksestanne tempuksistanne
illative tempukseenne tempuksiinne
adessive tempuksellanne tempuksillanne
ablative tempukseltanne tempuksiltanne
allative tempuksellenne tempuksillenne
essive tempuksenanne tempuksinanne
translative tempukseksenne tempuksiksenne
abessive tempuksettanne tempuksittanne
instructive
comitative tempuksinenne
third-person possessor
singular plural
nominative tempuksensa tempuksensa
accusative nom. tempuksensa tempuksensa
gen. tempuksensa
genitive tempuksensa tempustensa
tempuksiensa
partitive tempustaan
tempustansa
tempuksiaan
tempuksiansa
inessive tempuksessaan
tempuksessansa
tempuksissaan
tempuksissansa
elative tempuksestaan
tempuksestansa
tempuksistaan
tempuksistansa
illative tempukseensa tempuksiinsa
adessive tempuksellaan
tempuksellansa
tempuksillaan
tempuksillansa
ablative tempukseltaan
tempukseltansa
tempuksiltaan
tempuksiltansa
allative tempukselleen
tempuksellensa
tempuksilleen
tempuksillensa
essive tempuksenaan
tempuksenansa
tempuksinaan
tempuksinansa
translative tempuksekseen
tempukseksensa
tempuksikseen
tempuksiksensa
abessive tempuksettaan
tempuksettansa
tempuksittaan
tempuksittansa
instructive
comitative tempuksineen
tempuksinensa

Synonyms

Derived terms

compounds

Further reading

Latin

Etymology

    From Proto-Italic *tempos; thence, two ultimate origins have been proposed:

    Sense 2 is a semantic loan from Ancient Greek τὰ καίρῐᾰ (tà kaírĭă, the vital or fatal place (on the body)), from καιρός (kairós, time, opportunity, etc.), and is less frequent in singular form. Compare Old English þunwang (temple of the head), Middle High German tinne, tinge (forehead, temples).

    As seen from the adverb temperī, the noun would originally have declined like genus.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    tempus n (genitive temporis); third declension

    1. (literally):
      1. a time (a portion or period of time)
        ad/in tempustemporarily; for a time
        tempus diurnumdaytime
        • c. 37 BCE – 30 BCE, Virgil, Georgics III.284:
          sed fvgit intereā fvgit inreparābile tempvs
          But it flees, meanwhile, it flees... irretrievable time.
        • c. 99 BCE – 55 BCE, Lucretius, De rerum natura 5.220:
          Cur anni tempora morbos adportant?
          Why do the seasons of the year bring maladies?
        1. (especially) an interval, period (the time intervening between two events)
          • 397 CE – 401 CE, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis, Confessions 4:
            per īdem tempus annōrum novem, ab ūndēvīcēnsimō annō aetātis meae ūsque ad duodētrīcēnsimum, sēdūcēbāmur et sēdūcēbāmus
            During this period of nine years, from my nineteenth year to my twenty-eighth, I went astray and led others astray.
      2. (in general) time
        • c. 4 BCE – 65 CE, Seneca the Younger, Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium 1.1.3:
          Omnia, Lūcīlī, aliēna sunt; tempus tantum nostrum est [...].
          All things, Lucilius, are otherwise; time alone is ours.
      3. (in particular) the kairos, right time, due season, due time, proper time, appointed time, opportune time, opportunity
        in temporeat the appropriate time; in due season
        ad tempus venīreto come at the right time
        ante tempustoo soon (literally, “before the right time”)
    2. (anatomy):
      1. (in the plural) the temples (sides of the head)
      2. (poetic, transferred sense) (in general) the face, visage; the head
    3. (other transferred senses):
      1. the state of the times, position, state, condition; (in the plural) the times, circumstances (the time or age in its moral aspects)
        prō temporeaccording to the circumstances
      2. (poetry, rhetoric) time; measure, quantity
      3. (grammar) a tense (property of a verb that indicates the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs)
      4. (Medieval Latin, rare) the weather

    Declension

    Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem), with locative.

    singular plural
    nominative tempus tempora
    genitive temporis temporum
    dative temporī temporibus
    accusative tempus tempora
    ablative tempore temporibus
    vocative tempus tempora
    locative temporī
    tempore
    temporibus

    Locative used in the sense "in time".

    Derived terms

    Descendants

    • Eastern Romance:
      • Megleno-Romanian: timp
      • Romanian: timp
    • Italo-Dalmatian:
    • Rhaeto-Romance:
    • Gallo-Italic:
    • Gallo-Romance:
      • Franco-Provençal: temps
      • Old French: temps (see there for further descendants)
    • Occitano-Romance:
    • Ibero-Romance:
    • Borrowings:

    From tempora (plural):

    References

    1. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “tempus, -oris”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 611
    2. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “temporal”, in Online Etymology Dictionary, retrieved 8 April 2025.

    Further reading

    • tempus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
    • tempus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • "tempus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
    • tempus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
    • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
      • to be separated by an immense interval of space and time: intervallo locorum et temporum disiunctum esse
      • time passes: tempus praeterit, transit
      • to have time for a thing: tempus habere alicui rei
      • I have no time to do something: tempus mihi deest ad aliquid faciendum
      • to pass one's time in doing something: tempus consumere in aliqua re
      • to waste time on something: tempus terere, conterere (in) aliqua re
      • to employ one's time in..: tempus conferre ad aliquid
      • to devote time to anything: tempus tribuere alicui rei
      • to lose no time: tempus non amittere, perdere
      • to devote every spare moment to...; to work without intermission at a thing: nullum tempus intermittere, quin (also ab opere, or ad opus)
      • to spend time: tempus ducere
      • to put off till another time; to postpone: aliquid in aliud tempus, in posterum differre
      • to require, give, take time for deliberation: tempus (spatium) deliberandi or ad deliberandum postulare, dare, sibi sumere
      • to accommodate oneself to circumstances: tempori servire, cedere
      • since the time that, since (at the beginning of a sentence): ex quo tempore or simply ex quo
      • at the same moment that, precisely when: eo ipso tempore, cum; tum ipsum, cum
      • occasions arise for..: incidunt tempora, cum
      • circumstances demand: tempus (ita) fert (not secum)
      • it is high time that..: tempus maximum est, ut
      • the present day: haec tempora, nostra haec aetas, memoria
      • in our time; in our days: his temporibus, nostra (hac) aetate, nostra memoria, his (not nostris) diebus
      • in the time of Pericles: aetate (temporibus) Periclis
      • in old days, in the olden time: antiquis temporibus
      • the imperial epoch: tempora Caesariana
      • a man of considerable learning for those times: vir ut temporibus illis doctus
      • in process of time: tempore progrediente
      • at the first opportunity: primo quoque tempore
      • at this moment: hoc tempore
      • in an instant: puncto temporis
      • at the important moment: momento temporis
      • just at the critical moment: in ipso discrimine (articulo) temporis
      • on the spur of the moment: temporis causa
      • to be there at a given time: ad tempus adesse
      • for a short time: ad exiguum tempus
      • for a short time: brevis or exigui temporis
      • after some time: spatio temporis intermisso
      • at present; for the moment: in praesentia, in praesens (tempus)
      • the spirit of the times, the fashion: saeculi consuetudo or ratio atque inclinatio temporis (temporum)
      • the succession of the four seasons: commutationes temporum quadripartitae
      • in spring, summer, autumn, winter time: verno, aestivo, auctumnali, hiberno tempore
      • the charms of spring: suavitas verni temporis
      • morning, noon, evening, night: tempus matutīnum, meridianum, vespertinum, nocturnum
      • the morning hours: tempora matutina
      • to live (all) one's life (honourably, in the country, as a man of learning): vitam, aetatem (omnem aetatem, omne aetatis tempus) agere (honeste, ruri, in litteris), degere, traducere
      • the last stage of life, one's last days: extremum tempus aetatis
      • under such unfavourable circumstances: in tanta rerum (temporum) iniquitate
      • according to circumstances: pro re (nata), pro tempore
      • according to circumstances: pro tempore et pro re
      • not to leave off work for an instant: nullum tempus a labore intermittere
      • to spend one's leisure hours on an object: otiosum tempus consumere in aliqua re
      • to devote all one's leisure moments to study: omne (otiosum) tempus in litteris consumere
      • the history of our own times; contemporary history: memoria huius aetatis (horum temporum)
      • universal history: omnis memoria, omnis memoria aetatum, temporum, civitatum or omnium rerum, gentium, temporum, saeculorum memoria
      • to consult history: memoriam annalium or temporum replicare
      • the mythical period, the heroic age: tempora heroica (N. D. 3. 21. 54)
      • to go back to the remote ages: repetere ab ultima (extrema, prisca) antiquitate (vetustate), ab heroicis temporibus
      • chronology: temporum ratio, descriptio, ordo
      • to observe the chronological order of events: temporum ordinem servare
      • to observe the chronological order of events: servare et notare tempora
      • to narrate events in the order of their occurrence: res temporum ordine servato narrare
      • to make a chronological mistake: temporibus errare (Phil. 2. 9. 23)
      • to calculate the date of an event: ad temporum rationem aliquid revocare
      • to be exact in calculating dates: diligentem esse in exquirendis temporibus
      • to speak extempore: subito, ex tempore (opp. ex praeparato) dicere

    Latvian

    Noun

    tempus m

    1. accusative plural of temps

    Norwegian Nynorsk

    Etymology

    From Latin tempus (time). Doublet of tempo.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈtɛmpʉs/

    Noun

    tempus n (definite singular tempuset, indefinite plural tempus, definite plural tempusa)

    1. (linguistics, grammar) tense

    Inflection

    Historical inflection of tempus
    singular plural
    indefinite definite indefinite definite
    pre-1983 tempus tempuset tempora tempora, temporaa [temporai]
    1983 tempus tempuset tempora, tempus tempora, temporaa [temporai]; tempusa [tempusi]
    2012 (current) tempus tempuset tempus tempusa
    • Forms in italics are currently considered non-standard.
    • Forms in [brackets] were official, but considered second-tier.

    References

    Sardinian

    Etymology

    From Latin tempus

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈtempus/

    Noun

    tempus m (plural tempos)

    1. (countable and uncountable) time
    2. (uncountable) weather

    Swedish

    Noun

    tempus n

    1. (grammar) tense; a grammatical category that provides information about at which point in time a mentioned event takes place.
      Coordinate terms: aspekt, modus