"relative speed of a piece of music," 1724, from Italian tempo, literally "time" (plural tempi), from Latin tempus "time, season, portion of time" (see temporal). Extended (non-musical) senses by 1898.
Entries linking to tempo
temporal adj.
late 14c., "worldly, secular;" also "terrestrial, earthly; temporary, lasting only for a time," from Old French temporal "earthly," and directly from Latin temporalis "of time, denoting time; but for a time, temporary," from tempus (genitive temporis) "time, season, moment, proper time or season," from Proto-Italic *tempos- "stretch, measure," which according to de Vaan is from PIE *temp-os "stretched," from root *ten- "to stretch," the notion being "stretch of time." Related: Temporally.