Art

Forms

Art f (genitive Art, plural Arten)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German art (“descent; innate nature; manner”), first recorded in the 12th century, beside Middle Low German art.^[2][3][1] Kluge notes that the word may be inherited, but that it is striking that it is not attested earlier and spreads only later.^[2] Its further origin is uncertain.^[3][4]

If the word is old, Kluge compares Old English eard, Middle Dutch aert (“situation, kind”) and the adjective Old Norse einarðr (“simple, sincere”), and outside Germanic a root noun meaning “fitting”, from the root Proto-Indo-European *arə- (“to join, fit”) seen in Arm: Ancient Greek ἄρτι (árti, “just now”), ἄρτιος (ártios, “suitable, ready”) and Lithuanian artùs (“near”).^[2][5] On this view it would also be related to Latin ars (“skill, art”).^[3][6][5]

Others identify it with the Middle High German noun of the same spelling meaning “ploughing, tilled land”, Old High German art (“ploughing”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *ar(ə)- (“to plough”) of arō (“to plough”) and Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (arjan, “to plough”), through the senses “tilled land, home, origin”.^[3][6][7] Kluge does not rule this out, pointing to artōn (“to dwell; to till”),^[2] and Paul notes that Pfeifer favours it,^[6] while the Grimms' dictionary and its revision keep the two apart.^[8][5] The Early New High German dictionary leaves the question open.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Middle High German Genesis of about 1120–1130, where Esau and Jacob, as they grow up, ungelich art si gewnnen “took on unlike natures”.^[5] Around 1200 Wolfram's Parzival uses the word for the innate disposition that drives the boy to the birds' song.^[5] Middle High German art meant “descent, origin”, “innate quality, nature” and “kind, character”.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

Paul notes that the main senses, a group sharing descent and an innate nature or manner, were already formed around 1200, so that their development is hard to trace.^[6] The word first named groups of people, animals and plants related by descent, and then also kinds of things, states and activities; in logic and biology it became the rank below Gattung, rendering Latin speciēs.^[6] The sense “(noble) descent, family” faded out in the 17th century.^[5]

Schottelius in 1663 lists compounds such as Lebensart, Mundart, Redensart and Wortart.^[6] Already in Early New High German the word could mean “proper conduct, good manners”, as in Goethe's sie hat gar keine Art noch Geschick “she has no manner or skill at all”.^[6] The proverb Art lässt nicht von Art “like breeds like” is recorded from 1522.^[5][4] Danish and Swedish art were borrowed from German.^[12][1]

Timeline

• c. 1120–1130 – First record, in the Middle High German Genesis.^[5]
• c. 1200 – The senses “group by descent” and “innate nature, manner” are established.^[6]
• 1522 – The proverb artt leßtt von artt nitt is recorded.^[5]
• 1531 – Aus der Art schlagen “to be unlike one's family” is recorded.^[6]
• 1663 – Schottelius lists Lebensart, Mundart, Redensart and Wortart.^[6]
• 17th century – The sense “(noble) descent” goes out of use.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Innate nature, character, disposition: Sie ist von ruhiger Art.^[4][1]
2. manner, way of behaving or doing something: auf diese Art; often in Art und Weise.^[4][1]
3. (colloquial) Good manners, proper behaviour: Das ist doch keine Art!^[4][1]
4. A kind, sort, type: Bäume aller Art;^[4][1] eine Art (von) “a kind of, something like”.^[4][1]
5. (biology) A species.^[4][1]
6. (grammar) mood of a verb.^[1]

Word family

• artig
• Abart
• abartig
• ausarten
• entarten
• derart
• Mundart
• Tonart
• Lebensart
• Lesart
• Redensart
• Wortart
• Unterart
• Artgenosse
• Artenvielfalt

Related words

• Arm
• Dutch aard

Usage notes

Aus der Art schlagen “to turn out unlike one's family” keeps the old sense “descent”;^[13][6] Wahrig traces it to the late Middle Ages, Paul to 1531.^[13][6] Nach Art des Hauses is said of a dish made in the house style.^[4] A different Art “ploughing, tilled land”, Old High German art from the root of Latin arāre, survives only in dialects and in old compounds such as Artacker and the place name Artland.^[2][6][7] Art in names of art movements such as Pop Art is the English word art, taken over as part of such (American) English terms in the 20th century.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 62
3. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, Neubearbeitung (1965–2018), ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, 9 vols. (A–F), Leipzig / Stuttgart: Hirzel, p. 3, 299
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
7. ^ a b Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 1, 347
8. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 573
9. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
10. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 98
11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
12. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 568
13. ^ a b Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
14. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 63