In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
CONTEMPER
Etymology
Verb
contemper (third-person singular simple present contempers, present participle contempering, simple past and past participle contempered)
(obsolete, transitive) To modify or temper; to allay; to qualify; to moderate or soften.
Source: Wiktionary
Con*tem"per, v. t. Etym: [L. contemperare, -temperatum; con- + temperare to temper. Cf. Contemperate.]
Definition: To modify or temper; to allay; to qualify; to moderate; to soften. [Obs.] The antidotes . . . have allayed its bitterness and contempered its malignancy. Johnson.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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Coffee Trivia
