Kunst German · revision 35165

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=9th century, Old High German glosses|origins=ine-pro *ǵneh₃-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /kʊnst/, [kʰʊnst]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Kunst''' ''f'' (genitive Kunst, plural Künste)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|kunst]], [[inh|goh|kunst]], [[inh|gem-pro|*kunstiz|t=knowledge, ability]].^(Wiktionary)^(Kluge 2011|549)^(Köbler AHD) It is an abstract noun of the verb [[können]], formed with a suffix in /t/ and a transitional /s/, as [[Gunst]] belongs to [[gönnen]] and [[Brunst]] to [[brennen]].^(Kluge 2011|549)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020)^(EWA|5, 898) The same formation is [[osx|kunst]], [[ofs|kunst]] and [[dum|conste]], whence [[nl|kunst]].^(EWA|5, 898)^(Kluge 2011|549) Old English did not form the word, and Gothic does not record it.^(DWB|11, 2666) Old Norse [[m|non|kunnasta]] has another suffix, and the Grimms take it and [[sv|konst]] as formed under German influence.^(DWB|11, 2666) Through können it goes back to [[ine-pro|*ǵneh₃-|t=to know]].^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler AHD)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''kunst'' is recorded in glosses from the early 9th century, and in Otfrid, Notker and Williram.^(Köbler AHD)^(Schützeichel 2012|186) The EWA dates the glosses from the 10th century.^(EWA|5, 898) It meant “knowledge, understanding; ability, skill”, glossing Latin ''ars'', ''peritia'', ''sapientia'' and ''scientia''.^(EWA|5, 898)^(Schützeichel 2012|186)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In keeping with the verb, the word first meant “knowledge” and “learning”, a sense still alive in Early New High German: Luther's ''die große Kunst macht dich rasend'' (Acts 26:24) is “much learning doth make thee mad”.^(Paul 2002)^(Duden 7 2020) From the 13th to the 17th century ''Kunst'' gradually took the place of ''List'' in this field of meaning.^(Paul 2002) The seven liberal arts, ''die sieben freien Künste'', keep the old sense.^(Paul 2002)^(Duden 7 2020)

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+ It also meant any skill gained by practice, the ''swarze kunst'' “black art” of magic in Middle High German, and compounds like ''Kochkunst'', ''Fechtkunst'' and ''Kriegskunst'' in the 16th century.^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993) The narrowing to artistic creation in painting, sculpture, literature and music, and the contrast between art and nature, took shape only in the 18th century, helped by Batteux's ''Les beaux-arts'' (1746) and the German classical writers.^(Kluge 2011|549)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020) The sense “something made by people, not natural” appears as early as the 16th century and lives on in compounds such as ''Kunstdünger'' (19th century) and ''Kunststoff''.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020) In mining ''Kunst'' was a machine for raising water, and in the south-west a large stove.^(Paul 2002) The word passed into Polish as ''kunszt'' (1450), into Ukrainian (1577) and into Hungarian.^(LWP)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Early 9th century – Old High German ''kunst'' appears in glosses.^(Köbler AHD)^(Kluge 2011|549)

+ * 1450 – Polish ''kunszt'' “juggler's trick” is recorded, borrowed from German.^(LWP)

+ * 1561 – Maaler lists ''Kochkunst'', ''Kriegskunst'' and ''Fechtkunst''.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 16th century – ''Kunst'' is used of things made by people as opposed to nature.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 18th century – The word narrows to artistic creation.^(Kluge 2011|549)^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1870 – Virchow coins ''Kunstfehler'' “medical malpractice”.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|art|alt=Art]], creative work in materials, words or sounds: ''die bildende Kunst''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Works of art, the art of a period or an artist: ''die Kunst der Romantik''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|skill|alt=Skill]], an ability gained by practice; a [[m|en|craft]]: ''die Kunst des Bogenschießens''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' A feat, something difficult: ''Das ist keine Kunst.''^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(mostly in compounds)'' Something made artificially rather than natural: ''Kunstrasen'', ''Kunststoff''.^(Wiktionary)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Künstler]]

+ * [[künstlerisch]]

+ * [[künstlich]]

+ * [[künsteln]]

+ * [[gekünstelt]]

+ * [[Kunststück]]

+ * [[Kunstwerk]]

+ * [[Kunststoff]]

+ * [[Kunstfehler]]

+ * [[Baukunst]]

+ * [[Dichtkunst]]

+ * [[Kochkunst]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[können]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Die schwarze Kunst'' is magic, probably a rendering of Late Latin ''necromantia'', wrongly connected with Latin ''niger'' “black”; it also names printing, after the printer's black ink.^(Duden GWDS 1999) The colloquial greeting ''Was macht die Kunst?'' asks how someone's work is going.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}