masterpiece English · revision 39514

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=compound, calque|attested=1600, The Wisdom of Doctor Dodypoll}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈmɑːstəˌpiːs/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈmæstɚˌpis/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a compound [[af|en|master|piece]],^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002)^(Dictionary.com 2016) probably modelled on [[nl|meesterstuk]] or [[de|Meisterstück]],^(OED 2026)^(AHD 2024)^(MWU 2024)^(Collins 2023) which named the piece of work by which a craftsman qualified for the rank of master in his guild.^(Etymonline)^(Collins 2023) Klein takes it as a loan translation of the German word alone.^(Klein 1966)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A work of outstanding skill, especially an artist's or writer's greatest: 1600, in the play ''The Wisdom of Doctor Dodypoll''.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline) Dictionary.com dates the word earlier, to 1570–80.^(Dictionary.com 2016)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The guild sense of the Dutch and German words is the first sense in Merriam-Webster Unabridged,^(MWU 2024) but in English the general sense of supreme skill is recorded first.^(OED 2026) From 1607, in Ben Jonson's ''Volpone'', it could be a person's greatest achievement,^(OED 2026) and Shakespeare's ''Macbeth'' has "Confusion now hath made his masterpiece".^(SOED 2002) From 1612 to 1703 it also meant the chief excellence of a person or thing.^(OED 2026) Johnson (1755) defined it as "any thing done or made with extraordinary skill".^(Johnson 1755) From 1648 it could be any remarkable person or thing, a use now colloquial and regional:^(OED 2026) in the dialects of Yorkshire, East Anglia, Devon and Cornwall a ''masterpiece'' was anything surprising or wonderful, and in West Yorkshire also a self-willed person.^(Wright 1898) In 19th-century Australian criminal slang it was a skeleton key.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1570–80 – the date Dictionary.com gives.^(Dictionary.com 2016)

+ * 1600 – a work of outstanding skill.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1607 – a person's greatest achievement, in Jonson.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1612 – the chief excellence of something (obsolete by 1703).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1648 – a remarkable person or thing.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1865 – (Australian slang) a skeleton key.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A work of outstanding artistry or [[skill]]: ''The old bridge is a masterpiece of Victorian engineering.''^(Collins 2023)^(AHD 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # The greatest work of an artist, writer or craftsman.^(Collins 2023)^(AHD 2024)

+ # An outstanding example of something: ''a masterpiece of tact''.^(AHD 2024)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (historical) A piece of work presented to a [[guild]] by a craftsman to qualify as a [[master]].^(MWU 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+ # (dialect) Something surprising or wonderful.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[masterwork]]

+ * [[master]]

+ * [[piece]]

+ * [[masterly]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}