Etymograph

English

temple

Temple comes from Latin templum ‘shrine, temple, area for auspices’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtemplum1‘shrine’
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150templ1
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500temple1
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602temple1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English temple
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: “For nature crescent does not grow alone In thews…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtemplumWiktionary, English temple‘shrine’
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150templWiktionary, English temple
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500templeWiktionary, English temple
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602templeWiktionary, English temple. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: “For nature crescent does not grow alone In thews…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with temple, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *temp- ‘to stretch, pull’

  • temperature ← temperātūra ← tempero ← *tempos
  • contemporary ← contemporārius ← tempus ← *tempos
  • temporary ← temporarius ← tempora ← tempus ← *tempos
  • tense ← tens ← tens ← tempus ← *tempos
  • antenna ← *antitempnā
  • temper ← temperen ← ġetemprian ← temperō ← tempus
  • temporal ← temporel ← tempus ← *tempos
  • tempo ← tempus ← *tempos
  • tamper ← tremper ← temprer ← temperō ← *tempos
  • matin ← mātūtīnum ← tempus ← *tempos
  • tempura ← tempero ← temperar ← temperāre ← *tempos

through Latin templum ‘shrine, temple, area for auspices’

35 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of temple

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*temp-‘to stretch, string’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tempos‘stretch’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtempus‘temple, head, face’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtempora‘the temples’plural of tempus
  5. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*temp(u)lareconstructed
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400temple
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500temple
  8. Englishtodaytemple

Another origin of temple

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*temp-‘to stretch, pull’uncertainearlier origin unknown
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtemplum‘a small timber, a purlin’
  3. Englishtodaytemple

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Today it means

noun A house of worship, especially: A house of worship dedicated to a polytheistic faith.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “temple”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin templum / temple