contemplatev.

Etymology: < classical Latin contemplāt-, past participial stem (see -ate suffix³) of contemplāre (originally deponent, contemplārī) to look at hard, to gaze at, to observe, to study, to consider, to contemplate, to take into consideration, in post-classical Latin also to live in contemplation (8th cent.) < con- con- prefix + templum area of ground for taking auspices, marked out by the augurs (see temple n.¹). Compare earlier contemplation n., contemple v.Compare Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French, French contempler , Spanish contemplar (both late 13th cent.), Catalan contemplar , Portuguese contemplar , Italian contemplare (all 14th cent.), and also Middle Low German contemplēren . Specific forms. With the form comtemplate compare com- prefix. Historical variation of stress. The position of stress of this word has varied for much of its history, as with other polysyllabic verbs in -ate suffix³. In early use the stress normally fell on the second syllable, and this stress pattern is generally given by the early modern orthoepists, as well as by later dictionaries up to the late 19th cent. First-syllable stress is occasionally attested in early use, e.g. in Shakespeare (see quot. a1616 at sense 3; here perhaps for metrical reasons), and is given by some later dictionaries, e.g. Kenrick (1773) and Webster (1828); Byron, Shelley, and Tennyson have both first- and second-syllable stress. Since the late 19th cent., the tendency has been for the stress to shift back to the first syllable. All verbs in -ate suffix³ show a similar tendency towards stress on the antepenultimate. Such stress is found throughout the history in English of words in which the penultimate was a short syllable in the Latin etymon, as acˈcelerate , ˈanimate , ˈfascinate , ˈmachinate , ˈmilitate , or one prosodically short or long, as in ˈcelebrate , ˈconsecrate , ˈemigrate ; regularly also when the penultimate syllable had a long vowel in Latin, as ˈaspirate , conˈcatenate , ˈdenudate , eˈlaborate , ˈindurate , ˈpersonate , ˈruinate . However, in verbs where the penultimate syllable has two or three consonants giving positional length in Latin, the stress has historically been on the penultimate; its shift to the antepenultimate is sporadically evidenced from the later 18th cent., but only became the rule in the late 19th or even 20th cent. (with 20th-cent. pronouncing dictionaries giving only first-syllable stress); so in e.g. alternate v., compensate v., concentrate v., condensate v., confiscate v., demonstrate v., illustrate v., etc. Analogy with the stress position in the corresponding nouns of action in -ation suffix probably influenced this stress shift, with e.g. ˌconseˈcration vs. ˈconsecrate suggesting ˌdemonˈstration vs. ˈdemonstrate.