The story
- Latin · borrowed fromtemperātus
- English todaytemperate
The adjective is first attested in 1380, in Middle English, the verb in 1540; borrowed from Latin temperātus, perfect passive participle of temperō (“to moderate, forbear, combine properly”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (verb-forming suffix). See temper. Displaced native Old English ġemetegod.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.