absztinens abstemious

Creator:	Eva Blanar
Language pair:	Hungarian to English
Discipline:	-
Definition / notes:	"Abstemious" and "abstain" look alike, and both have meanings involving self-restraint or self-denial. So they must both come from the same source, right? Well, that's partly true. Both get their start from the Latin prefix "abs-," meaning "from" or "away," but "abstain" traces to "abs-" plus the Latin verb "tençre" (meaning "to hold"), while "abstemious" gets its "-temious" from a suffix akin to the Latin noun "temetum," meaning "intoxicating drink." (It makes sense, therefore, that abstemious behavior usually involves staying away from intoxicating drinks.) "Abstain" is the older word, first appearing in the 14th century; "abstemious" didn't turn up in print in English until 1609. (Webster)
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