artifex

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈar.tɪ.fɛks]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈar.ti.feks]^[1]

Forms

artifex m or f (genitive artificis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound of ars, stem ⟨arti-⟩, “art, skill” and the agent element -fex “maker”, from faciō.^[2][1][3] Varro has ⟨artufex⟩.^[2] Isidore explains it as a general name for one who “makes art”, as an ⟨aurifex⟩ works gold.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus, of a master of an art and of a performer.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a practitioner of an art, an expert, master, as in Plautus and Cicero, a skilled workman, craftsman, and a sculptor or painter, an artist.^[2] Lewis and Short say it is a master of the liberal arts, while an opifex works in the menial ones.^[6] It meant an actor, musician or dancer, from Plautus, a maker, creator, the author of a book, a contriver, a perpetrator, and in Virgil a master schemer.^[2] As an adjective it meant skilled, artistic, cunning, creative, as in Cicero, and skilfully made.^[2] The TLL notes it is rare in early Latin and frequent in Seneca and Pliny.^[3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant maker, author, artificer.^[7] Medieval Latin used it of a craftsman, and British Medieval Latin also of God as the Creator.^[8][9] Its derivative artificium and the adjective artificiālis gave English artificial in the late 14th century.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a master and of a performer.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of craftsmen and of creators.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a schemer.^[2][5]
• late 14th century – English artificial is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A practitioner of an art; an expert, master.^[2]
2. A craftsman, artisan.^[2]
3. An artist, sculptor, painter.^[2]
4. A performer, actor, musician.^[2]
5. A maker, creator; an author; a perpetrator.^[2]
6. A master schemer.^[2]

Adjective

1. Skilled, artistic; cunning; creative.^[2]
2. Skilfully made.^[2]

Word family

• artificium

Related words

• ars
• faciō
• opifex
• English artificial
• English artifice

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 n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com