a. and sb. Also β. 7–9 co-temporary, cotemporary. [ad. L. type *contemporāri-us, f. con- together + tempus, tempor- time, temporārius of or belonging to time; the actual formations in L. were contemporālis and contemporāneus (see above).
Contemporary is the original form, and that approved by Latin analogies; cf. the preceding and following words. But the variant co-temporary was used by some in the 17th c., and though characterized by Bentley as ‘a downright barbarism,’ it became so prevalent after c. 1725, as almost to expel contemporary from use. Towards the end of the 18th c., the latter rapidly recovered its ground, and cotemporary is now used by comparatively few. It has been defended on the ground that it is a purely English formation, like co-divine, co-glorious (see CO- 2); but this is a mere fancy generated by mechanically dividing the word, without regard either to its history or to its meaning. Historically, contemporary is a substitute for contemporal and contemporane (either of which might well have been retained instead); in signification, co-temporary would analogically mean ‘unitedly, conjointly, or equally temporary,’ whereas contemporary has no affinity with the English sense of ‘temporary,’ and no connection with that word except that both are derivatives of L. tempus and its adj. temporārius.]
A. adj.
Belonging to the same time, age, or period; living, existing, or occurring together in time.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., II. ii. § 80. After King Oswald his Death, four Christian contemporary Kings flourished in England.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 101, ¶ 4. The Passions and Prejudices of a contemporary Author.
1828. D’Israeli, Chas. I., I. Pref. 7. Immense archives of contemporary documents.
1844. Ruskin, Mod. Paint. (ed. 2), I. Pref. 14. He … who would maintain the cause of contemporary excellence against that of elder time.
1874. Green, Short Hist., vii. § 7. 416. There are allusions in plenty to contemporary events.
b. Const. with.
1631. Weever, Anc. Fun. Mon., 226. An Author contemporarie with this Archbishop.
1642. Howell, For. Trav. (Arb.), 23. Commines, who was contemporary with Machiavil.
1790. Paley, Horæ Paul., Rom. ii. 16. Either contemporary with that or prior to it.
1845. M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 1. Writers contemporary with the events they write of.
† c. Const. to, unto. Obs.
a. 1641. Bp. Mountagu, Acts & Mon. (1642), 179. Cumæa was contemporary to the warre of Troy.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., V. xii. 251. Galen who was contemporary unto Plutarch.
1728. Newton, Chronol. Amended, 39. Clisthenes, Alcmæon and Eurolicus … were contemporary to Phidon.
1750. Warburton, Julian, I. iii. He was not only contemporary to the fact, but [etc.].
β. cotemporary.
1662. Stillingfl., Orig. Sacr., I. v. § 8. Sesac King of Ægypt, co-temporary with Rhehoboam.
1698. Boyle, Bentley’s Dissert. Exam., 167. Allowing then that Solon and Thespis were Cotemporary.
[1699. Bentley, Phal., Pref. 86. I would rather use … these [words] than that single word of the Examiner’s Cotemporary, which is a downright Barbarism.]
1736. Butler, Anal., II. vii. (1874), 252. Events cotemporary with the miracles … or subsequent to them.
1759. Robertson, Hist. Scot. (1817), I. 384. Cotemporary writers.
1762. Gentl. Mag., 102. We often meet with the word cotemporary … The word should always be spelled contemporary.
a. 1789. Burney, Hist. Mus. (ed. 2), II. i. 8, note. Prudentius a Christian poet, cotemporary with Theodosius.
1824. L. Murray, Eng. Gram. (ed. 5), I. 534. I prefer contemporary to cotemporary.
1828. Webster, Contemporary … For the sake of easier pronunciation and a more agreeable sound, the word is often changed to cotemporary … the preferable word.
1861. Max Müller, Sc. Lang., Ser. I. (1864), 138. Supported by cotemporary scholars.
2. Having existed or lived from the same date, equal in age, coeval.
a. 1667. Cowley, Claudian’s Old Man of V., 22. A neighbouring Wood born with himself he sees, And loves his old contemporary Trees.
1673. [R. Leigh], Transp. Reh., 42. Making Light contemporary with it’s Creator.
1794. Sullivan, View Nat., I. 315. The water is as ancient as the earth, and contemporary with it.
β. 1879. M. Pattison, Milton, 3. John Milton was born, 9th Dec., 1608, being thus exactly cotemporary with Lord Clarendon.
3. Occurring at the same moment of time, or during the same period; occupying the same definite period; contemporaneous, simultaneous.
1656. trans. Hobbes’ Elem. Philos. (1839), 149. All the parts of them [i.e., lines] which are contemporary, that is, which are described in the same time.
1665–6. Phil. Trans., I. 271. Not that by the Moons motion about its Axis the Earth should be carried by a contemporary Period.
1806. Hutton, Course Math., II. 290. Contemporary Fluents, or Contemporary Fluxions, are such as flow together, or for the same time.
β. 1794. G. Adams, Nat. & Exp. Philos., III. xxxi. 279. The number of cotemporary turns of a wheel and pinion are reciprocally proportional to their number of teeth.
1799. Vince, Elem. Astron., xv. (1810), 125. The cotemporary variations of these angles.
B. sb. One who lives at the same time with another or others.
(In this sense Harrison, Descr. Britain, 1577, used ‘Synchroni or time fellows.’)
1646. W. Price, Mans Delinq., 9. Their spirits, contemporaries to S. Austine.
1670. Walton, Lives, IV. 319. Their being contemporaries in Cambridge.
1700. Dryden, Fables, Pref. (Globe), 494. From Chaucer I was led to think on Boccace, who was … his contemporary.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 145, ¶ 11. More acquainted with his contemporaries than with past generations.
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Uses Gt. Men, Wks. (Bohn), I. 284. Men resemble their contemporaries, even more than their progenitors.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 3. The comic poet Alexis, a younger contemporary of Plato.
β. a. 1635. Naunton, Fragm. Reg. (1641), 28. My Lord of Leicester and Burleigh, both his Cotemporaries [ed. 1653, Con-] and Familiars.
1657. P. Heylin, Eccl. Vind., I. iv. 168. Now Bel and Serug were Cotemporaries.
1667. Sprat, Hist. Royal Soc., 81 (T.). Our cotemporaries, who only follow rude and untaught nature.
1678. R. L’Estrange, Seneca’s Mor. (1702), 418. He and I were Cotemporaries.
1728. Morgan, Algiers, II. iii. 247. One of his own Country Princes, and his Cotemporary.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 167, ¶ 8. The hopes and fears of our cotemporaries.
1846. Mill, Logic, III. xiii. 87. As novel as the law of gravitation appeared to the cotemporaries of Newton.
1879. M. Pattison, Milton, 1. A cotemporary of Milton, John Aubrey.
b. Used by a journal or periodical in referring to others published at the same time.
[1837. Dickens, Pickwick, li. 548. Does our fiendish contemporary wince?]
1869. Spectator, 25 Dec., 1517. We quote from our contemporary the Vatican the following remarkable statement.
c. A person of the same age as another.
1742. Gray, Lett., in Poems (1775), 152. I shall see Mr. * * and his Wife, nay, and his child too … Is it not odd to consider one’s Contemporaries in the grave light of Husband and Father?
1880. Lucy B. Walford, Troublesome Dau., I. ix. 179. Even Alice and Kate must not look upon him quite as though he were a contemporary.
