ars

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈars]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈars]^[1]

Forms

ars f (genitive artis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *arti-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂r̥-tí- (“the fitting”), from the root *h₂er- (“to fit, join”).^[2][1] From it were formed sollers “skilled”, from *soll-arti- with sollus “whole”, and iners “unskilled, idle”.^[2]

Cognate with Avestan aṣ̌i- (“reward”) and Ancient Greek ἄρτι (árti, “just, exactly”),^[2][1] and with Sanskrit ऋति (ṛtí-, “manner”).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards,^[2] whose young man wonders which of two trades, artes, he should take up.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant skill and craftsmanship, and art as opposed to nature.^[3] It also meant a trick or stratagem, as the stepmother's ars that killed Hippolytus in Virgil, and in the plural a person's habits or conduct.^[3]

It was a body of knowledge and technique, an art or science, so that Varro could ask whether etymology is an ars.^[3] The bonae artes were the liberal studies.^[3] It was a trade or profession, a work of art, and the rules or theory of an art, hence a textbook.^[3] In Medieval Latin it also meant a machine, and artes were the liberal arts.^[5] It survives as Italian and Portuguese arte and French art, and English art came from French and Latin in the early 13th century.^[1][4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a trade.^[3][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro asks whether etymology is an art.^[3][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the teachers of all the liberal arts.^[3][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it for a stepmother's wiles.^[3][6]
• early 13th century – English art is first recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Skill, craftsmanship.^[3][7]
2. Art (as opposed to nature).^[3]
3. A trick, wile, stratagem.^[3][1]
4. (in the plural) Habits, conduct.^[3]
5. An art, science, bonae artes the liberal studies.^[3]
6. A trade, profession, craft.^[3][1]
7. A work of art; artistry.^[3]
8. The rules of an art, theory; a textbook.^[3]
9. (Medieval Latin) A machine.^[5]

Word family

• artifex
• artitus
• iners
• quinquertium
• sollers

Related words

• arto
• arctō
• arma
• English art
• English artist
• English artifice

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press