why are temples on your head called temples?

Question

on your head between your eyes, why are they called temples?

Answer 1

"The situation with temples is less clear. Temple “sacred edifice” is English from Latin (templum; this word was borrowed twice: first in Old English, then in Middle English, the second time from French, or at least influenced by the French form). The earliest meaning of the word was “broad open space; consecrated space, sanctuary,” ultimately from a word meaning “stretch.” All that can be said definitely about temple “part of the head” is that it entered English from French in the 14th century. The etymon of temple is tempora, the plural of Latin tempus “time” (!). This tempora changed unpredictably to tempula, whence temple. The plural makes sense: it is the dual, rather than the plural, for the head has two temples. But how could “times” become “flat part of the head between the forehead and either ear,” to quote a dictionary definition? The words used to designate body parts, even when they are transparent, have variable meanings: the same name may be used for the cheek and the jaw, for the breast and the stomach, etc. But temple has probably always meant what it does today. In some languages, temples are named for the hair that covers them, in others for being part of the cheek on which we sleep, and in still others for their “thinness” (in comparison with the skull) and perhaps for their vulnerability. Could there be a reference to the parts of the head, “stretched” in such a way that they were particularly “seasonable” for a blow? This is the suggestion by Earnest Weekley, the author of many excellent books on the history of English words and of an etymological dictionary, published in 1923. Or should the solution be sought at the level of the ancient root temp- “stretch”? (German Stirn “forehead” goes back to a verb with such a meaning, and in Old German, tinna meant both “temple” and “forehead.”) This was the hypothesis of Hjalmar Falk and Alf Torp, two outstanding Norwegian scholars. But then where does “times” come in? The riddle remains unsolved. The OED and Skeat, our greatest authorities, venture no conjectures."

Answer 2

TEMPLE is the flat region on either side of the forehead.

WORD HISTORY Words that are identical in form do not always derive from the same source, and when they have different sources they are usually considered different words. The temple that refers to a place of worship, for example, does not have the same origin as the temple that refers to a side of the forehead. The temple where one worships comes from Latin templum, itself derived from the Indo-European root *tem–, “to cut, divide.” Latin templum probably referred originally to the fact that temples were on sacred ground that was “divided” or separated from ordinary ground. The temple of the head comes from the Latin word tempus, “temple of the head.” Its origin is not certain; some have thought it to be a special use of the homonymous word tempus “time” as a translation of Greek kairios, “(proper) time, opportunity, vital spot,” but there is no hard evidence for this. What is known, and not uninteresting in itself, is how tempus eventually became temple in English. In Latin, the plural, tempora, was more frequently used than the singular tempus (it being more common to talk about paired body parts together rather than singly). There was a large class of Latin nouns ending in -a in the singular, and this led to a reinterpretation of tempora as a singular in later Latin, where it was also altered to *tempula. This became temple in Old French, whence English temple (of the head) was borrowed, first appearing in 1310. The classical Latin form survives in the English adjective temporal (as in temporal bone or temporal muscle).-

Answer 3

Words that are identical in form do not always derive from the same source, and when they have different sources they are usually considered different words. The temple that refers to a place of worship, for example, does not have the same origin as the temple that refers to a side of the forehead. The temple where one worships comes from Latin templum, itself derived from the Indo-European root *tem–, “to cut, divide.” Latin templum probably referred originally to the fact that temples were on sacred ground that was “divided” or separated from ordinary ground. The temple of the head comes from the Latin word tempus, “temple of the head.” Its origin is not certain; some have thought it to be a special use of the homonymous word tempus “time” as a translation of Greek kairios, “(proper) time, opportunity, vital spot,” but there is no hard evidence for this. What is known, and not uninteresting in itself, is how tempus eventually became temple in English. In Latin, the plural, tempora, was more frequently used than the singular tempus (it being more common to talk about paired body parts together rather than singly). There was a large class of Latin nouns ending in -a in the singular, and this led to a reinterpretation of tempora as a singular in later Latin, where it was also altered to *tempula. This became temple in Old French, whence English temple (of the head) was borrowed, first appearing in 1310. The classical Latin form survives in the English adjective temporal (as in temporal bone or temporal muscle).

Answer 4

I have no idea. Lol.♥