LOGOI

The corpus record — Latin

templum

templum

area for auspices, shrine

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

  • Ab Urbe Condita, books 8-10 - 19s 1 · 49.75/10k
  • Dittochaeon 6 · 49.02/10k
  • Appendix Vergiliana 1 · 36.9/10k
  • Divus Aurelianus 23 · 29.43/10k
  • Antoninus Caracallus 6 · 29.38/10k
  • Antoninus Pius 5 · 22.28/10k
  • Ordo Urbium Nobilium 2 · 19.12/10k
  • Contra Symmachum 22 · 18.3/10k
  • Domitianus 6 · 17.44/10k
  • Fasti 53 · 16.99/10k
  • Tacitus 5 · 16.2/10k
  • In P. Vatinium testem interrogatio 7 · 15.59/10k

Densest 12 of 231 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. templum — de Vaan

templum 'area for auspices, shrine' [n. o] (Andr.+; templa^ -drum 'plank, purlin' Lucr.+) Derivatives: contemplare 'to gaze at, observe' (Naev>), extemp(u)ld [adv.J 'immediately' (Naev.+); maybe antemna 'yard of a sailing-ship' (P1.+). Pit. *t(e)mp-lo- [n.]. PIE *t(e)mp-Io-. IE cognates: Lith. tempti 'to pull, stretch', 3s. tempia, OIc. pgmb 'bow', ToB campam, A campas 'is able'. tempus Probably from the root *temp~ … — [de Vaan, s.v. templum, p. 624]

2. templum — Lewis & Short

templum, i, n.prob. for temulum; root tem- of te/mnw; cf. te/menos, a sacred enclosure; hence,

I Lit., a space marked out; hence, in partic., in augury, an open place for observation, marked out by the augur with his staff: templum dicitur locus manu auguris designatus in aëre, post quem factum ilico captantur auguria, Serv. Verg. A. 1, 92: dictum templum locus augurii aut auspicii causā quibusdam conceptis verbis finitus. Concipitur verbis non isdem usquequaquae. In Arce sic: templa tescaque me ita sunto quoad ego caste lingua nuncupavero. Olla veter arbor, quirquir est, quam me sentio dixisse, templum tescumque finito in sinistrum, etc. ... In hoc templo faciundo arbores constitui fines apparet, Varr. L. L. 7, § 6 sq. Müll.: Palatium Romulus, Remus Aventinum ad inaugurandum templa capiunt, Liv. 1, 6, 4.—
B Transf., with the idea of openness, extent, or that of sanctity predominating.
1 An open, clear, broad space, a circuit (so rare and mostly poet.): unus erit, quem tu tolles in caerula caeli Templa, i. e. the space or circuit of the heavens, Enn. ap. Varr. L. L. 7, § 6 Müll. (Ann. v. 67); cf.: nec mare nec tellus neque caeli lucida templa, etc., Lucr. 1, 1014; so, caeli, Ter. Eun. 3, 5, 42; Lucr. 1, 1064; 1, 1105; 2, 1039; 6, 286; 6, 644; 6, 1228; cf. caelestia, id. 6, 388; 6, 670: magna caelitum, Enn. ap. Varr. 7, § 6 Müll. (Trag. v. 227 Vahl.): magnum Jovis altitonantis, id. ap. Varr. L. L. 7, § 7 Müll. (Ann. v. 531 Vahl.): mundi magnum et vorsatile templum, the extent or circuit of the world, Lucr. 5, 1436; so, mundi, id. 5, 1205; 6, 43; cf.: deus, cujus hoc templum est omne quod conspicis, Cic. Rep. 6, 15, 15; Somn. Scip. 3, 6: globus, quem in hoc templo medium vides, quae terra dicitur, Cic. Rep. 6, 15, 15.—Of the infernal regions: Acherusia templa alta Orci, salvete, infera, spaces, Enn. ap. Varr. L. L. 7, § 6 Müll. (Trag. v. 107 Vahl.); id. ap. Cic. Tusc. 1, 21, 48.—Of the plain of the sea: loca Neptunia templaque turbulenta, Plaut. Mil. 2, 5, 3; cf. id. Rud. 4, 2, 4.—Of the hollow space or chamber of the mouth: umida linguaï circum sidentia templa, Lucr. 4, 624.—
2 A consecrated or sacred place, a sanctuary (syn.: aedes, fanum).
a In gen.: (sacerdotes) urbem et agros et templa liberata et effata habento, Cic. Leg. 2, 8, 21; cf.: hinc effari templa dicuntur ab auguribus, Varr. L. L. 6, § 53 Müll.—Of the Rostra: in Rostris, in illo inquam inaugurato templo ac loco, Cic. Vatin. 10, 24; cf.: rostraque id templum appellatum, Liv. 8, 14, 12; Cic. Sest. 29, 62; Liv. 2, 56, 10; 3, 17, 1; 8, 35, 8 Drak.—Of the Curia: templum ordini ab se aucto Curiam fecit, Liv. 1, 30, 2; 26, 31, 11; 26, 33, 4.—Of a tribunal, Liv. 23, 10 Drak.; Flor. 2, 12, 11. —Of an asylum, Liv. 2, 1, 4.—
(b) Trop., a sanctuary, shrine: pectus templaque mentis, Lucr. 5, 103; cf.: (curia) templum sanctitatis, amplitudinis, mentis, consilii publici, Cic. Mil. 33, 90.—
b In partic., a place dedicated to some particular deity, a fane, temple, shrine: Herculis, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 43, § 94: Jovis, id. Fam. 10, 12, 4: Junonis Sospitae, id. Div. 1, 2, 4; cf. id. ib. 1, 44, 99; Verg. A. 1, 446: Virtutis, Cic. Rep. 1, 14, 21: Vestae, Hor. C. 1, 2, 16: Minervae, Verg. A. 6, 840: antiqua deorum, Hor. S. 2, 2, 104: donec templa refeceris, id. C. 3, 6, 2: testudo amica templis, id. ib. 3, 11, 6: templorum positor, templorum sancte repostor, Ov. F. 2, 63.—Of the sepulchral monument of Sychaeus, to whom divine honors were paid, Verg. A. 4, 457; cf. Sil. 1, 84.—
II A small timber; in architecture, a purlin lying horizontally upon the rafters, Vitr. 4, 2 and 7; cf.: templum significat et tignum, quod in aedificio transversum ponitur, Fest. p. 367 Müll.

3. templum — Walde–Hofmann

templum, - n. „der vom Augur mit dem Stab am Himmel und auf der Erde abgegrenzte Beobachtungsbezirk, innerhalb dessen der Vogelflug beobachtet werden soll, oder der Aussichtsplatz für die Vogelschau“ (Varro frg. Gell. 14, 7, 7 [danach ist nicht jede aedes sacra ein Tempel], „jeder geweihte Bezirk“ (seit Liv. Andr., Naev., Enn., Plaut, rom.), Zempla, -örum n. auch „die über die Dachsparren gespannten Querhölzer, auf … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. templum, p. 1567]

In the wild

6 of 1,965 attestations shown.

Where it came from

  • de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. templum (scan pp. 624-625; entry #1781). Root candidates: *temp-, *tempto-.
  • Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. templum (scan pp. 704-705; entry #11702).
  • Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. templum (scan pp. 1567-1569; entry #2959). Root candidates: *temp-, *ten-, *sein-.

Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.