Time relations

The thirty-first entry is momentaneo, and « momentary » sits so close to it that an English reader will not stop to check. The two words do not measure the same thing. « Momentary » is about length: a momentary lapse, a momentary hesitation, something that lasted an instant and was over. Momentaneo is about permanence: it says the state is not the settled one and will be replaced, however long it happens to run. Un guasto momentaneo is a fault that will be put right, not a fault that flickered, and una difficoltà momentanea can last a year without straining the word. The adverb makes the gap plain. Il servizio è momentaneamente sospeso is the notice on a lift or a website, and it means suspended for the time being — « momentarily suspended » is not English at all, and « momentarily » in British English still means for a moment rather than in a moment. So the safe renderings run through « temporary », « temporarily » and « for the time being », and « momentary » is kept for the things that really did last only an instant.