Etymologically
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ars

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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

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