contemplation
English, from Latin · contemplatio
To contemplate was first to mark a space of sky and watch. The temple is in the word.
- con-
- with
- templum
- a marked-out space for observing the sky
Morphology
Latin contemplari: to gaze attentively, from templum, the sector of sky an augur observes. Contemplation is a looking within a boundary.
Semantic range
Gazeful knowing, prayer without petition, theoretical life (bios theoretikos).
History of the word
Christian contemplatio, theoria in Greek monastic language, later a contrast with “action.” In modern English it can mean mere musing. The older word is closer to a discipline of looking.
A key source
Aquinas
On the contemplative life, ST II-II q.179–182.
Associated traditions
Parallels, not equivalents. Different attempts to notice something about knowing.
Greek
theōria
A seeing; Aristotle’s highest life. Not “theory” as a model.
A distant linguistic echo
attention
Latin attendere · A stretch toward; contemplation is a stay.
How the word shifts
When contemplation means daydream, the templum has been lost.
thinking about
The watching, the marked space, the non-utility.
A story where the word matters
Nearby words
Neighbors, not translations of one concept.
From this word
Can a looking that does not use its object still be a way of knowing it?
One question remains
What does this word let us notice that English “consciousness” does not?
It lets us notice looking as a form of knowing that does not grab.