Etymologically
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art

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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