What is the origin of the word "template"?

Search: template

Why: Uncle Hal is sending me some templates to work with. Hey, why don't you order some of his awesome name art? It makes a very nice Hanukkah or Christmas gift.

But is the root plate like Fashion Plates? Or temp like "time"? Or something else?

Wait, those make a nice Hanukkah or Christmas gift.

Answer: It's neither! It comes from a French word templet, "weaver's stretcher," from temple, which means the same thing. Those words are from Latin templum, "plank, rafter" and also "building for worship."

The meaning "pattern or gauge for shaping a piece of work" is first recorded 1819 in this form, earlier temple (1680s); the form was altered 1844, probably influenced by plate, but the pronunciation did not begin to shift until much more recently.

Plate, btw, originally meant "thin piece of metal," like a coin.

Source: EtymOnline

The More You Know: This has nothing to do with anything, but the guy who sits behind me at work sounds exactly like Peter Sarsgaard, so much so that it is jarring whenever I hear him talk (which is often. Get to work, buddy).