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art

Etymology and origin of the French word art

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1100, Chanson de Roland (males arz)
Inherited from
Latin ars
Ultimate origin
Latin (ars)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin ars
English art
French art

Pronunciation

Forms

art m (plural arts)[1] Old French art, plural arz, ars.[2][3] The word was feminine, as in Latin, or masculine until the 16th century; the masculine prevailed in the 17th.[4][5][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ars (“skill; craft; method; cunning”) (accusative “artem”).[6][5][1][7] The TLFi calls it a borrowing from Latin.[2] Rey relates “ars” to Latin armus (“shoulder”) and Latin artus (“joint”) and to Ancient Greek ἀραρίσκω (ararískō, “to fit together”), from an Indo-European root of fitting and order.[6][8]

Compare Italian arte, Spanish arte and Portuguese arte, Latin “ars” passed into all the Romance languages except Romanian.[5][8][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) a pagan king is de mult males arz, “skilled in evil arts”, magic.[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

Benoît de Sainte-Maure (1165–70) uses it for the seven liberal arts of medieval study and for skill in achieving something; from this came “cunning, artifice” (12th–17th century).[2][6] In the early 13th century it meant a craft or trade, a sense taken over in the 16th century by artisan, Montaigne (1580) opposes l'art to nature.[2][6]

The aesthetic sense, the creation of works of beauty, is from Trévoux (1740), and the Beaux-Arts from 1752; these are now the main senses, and gave œuvre d'art and art moderne.[2][6] Older senses survive in l'art de + infinitive, les règles de l'art and avoir l'art et la manière.[6][8]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Males arz, Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • 1165–70 – The liberal arts, Benoît de Sainte-Maure.[2]
  • early 13th century – A craft or trade.[2]
  • 1580 – Art as opposed to nature, Montaigne.[2]
  • 1740 – The creation of beauty, Trévoux.[2]
  • 1752 – Beaux Arts, Lacombe.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. art, artistic creation; the arts: une œuvre d'art, l'art moderne, les beaux-arts.[8][1]
  2. A skill, knack: l'art de plaire, avoir l'art de.[8][9]
  3. The body of methods of an activity: l'art culinaire, l'art militaire, les règles de l'art.[2][8]
  4. Arts et métiers: arts and crafts.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25, 344b
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Art.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/art. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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