Gr. Antiq. [a. Gr. τέμενος, f. τεμ-, stem of τέμν-ειν to cut off, sever.] A piece of ground surrounding or adjacent to a temple; a sacred enclosure or precinct.
1786. R. P. Knight, Priapus, 110–1 The portico, which runs parallel with these buildings, inclosed the Temenos, or area of sacred ground.
1799. Earl Sandwich, Voy Mediterr., 1738–9, 38. His [Saron’s] corpse [was] carried to the sacred land, or the Temenos of Diana, and there buried in the temple, whence the march changed its name to that of Saronicus.
1820. T. S. Hughes, Trav. Sicily, I. iv. 108. Tradition says, that this square formed in very early ages the temenos of a temple.
1885. Times, 3 Jan., 12. Pious sons had set up … a dedicatory inscription in a temenos, or sacred enclosure.
attrib. 1891. A. B. Edwards, Pharaohs, Fellahs & Expl., 29. Close outside the temenos-wall of one of these temples.
