''Tempore'' (abbreviated to temp.) in historical literature, denotes a period during which a person whose exact lifespan is unknown, was known to have been alive or active, or some other date which is not exactly known, usually given as the reign of a monarch. The word is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

, being the

ablative In grammar, the ablative case (pronounced ; sometimes abbreviated ) is a grammatical case for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in the grammars of various languages; it is sometimes used to express motion away from something, among other uses. ...

singular of the noun ''tempus, temporis'', "time", thus meaning "in the time (of)". It should be followed by a name in the

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can ...

. The theoretical full form might be ''vixit tempore Regis Henrici Primi'' ("he/she lived in the time of King Henry the First") (i.e. 1100-1135). The best-known occurrence is in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086, where the phrase ''Tempore Regis Eduardi'' (nominative case ''Rex Eduardus''), meaning "in the time of King Edward (the Confessor)" appears in the entry for almost every manor, abbreviated as TRE. It thus signifies the date range 1042–1066. It is useful in historical literature because the names of many historical persons appear in surviving documents only in royal charters, possibly as witnesses, which can be dated to the reign of the originating monarch. The word ''tempore'' is often given in its abbreviated form ''temp.'' It is similar to ''

floruit ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicat ...

'' ("flourished"

t a date or range of dates T, or t, is the twentieth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabe ...

which however is more appropriate for artists to denote not merely a period of life, but a particularly productive period within that lifespan.

References

{{Reflist Dating methods Domesday Book Latin words and phrases