craft English · revision 6157

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 888|origins=gem-pro *kraftaz}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /krɑːft/, US /kræft/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English craft, [[inh|ang|cræft|t=power, strength; skill, art]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline) from [[gem-pro|*kraftaz]],^(Etymonline) which is also the source of [[ofs|kreft]], [[osx|kraft]], [[goh|chraft]] (German Kraft) and [[non|kraptr|t=strength, virtue]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline) It has no cognates outside Germanic,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) and its ultimate origin is uncertain, but Barnhart and MWU relate it to [[crave]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) The verb is [[m|ang|cræftan|t=to exercise a craft, build]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Skill, art: about 888 in the OED, before 899 in Alfred's translation of Boethius;^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988) power, strength, might, also in Alfred's works, is the original sense.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ NODE notes that the shift from strength to skill took place only in English,^(NODE 1998) by way of the notion of mental power.^(Etymonline) By late Old English the word also meant a trade or handicraft,^(Etymonline) and as the second element of compounds it means an art, as in [[handicraft]], [[statecraft]] and [[witchcraft]].^(Hoad 1986) In Middle English it also meant occult art or a spell (about 1205–20),^(OED 1989) and skill in deceiving, guile, which gave [[crafty]], at first “skilful” and later “cunning”.^(Hoad 1986)^(Cresswell 2021) The sense of a boat, at first in ''small craft'' (1671–72), may refer to the trade such boats did or to the small skill needed to handle them;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) it has spread to aircraft and spacecraft.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023) The verb, to make skilfully, is from 1436, obsolete from the 16th century but revived by 1954, largely in American advertising.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 888 – skill, art, in Alfred.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 893 – strength, power (obsolete).^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1220 – occult art, magic.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1436 – to make skilfully.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1671–72 – small craft, boats.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1954 – the verb revived.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Skill in making things, especially by hand; [[expertise]] in an art.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # An occupation or trade requiring such skill, or its members as a body; a [[guild]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Skill in deceiving; [[guile]] or cunning.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A boat, ship, aircraft or spacecraft (plural also craft).^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make by hand, or with great care and skill.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[crafter]]

+ * [[craftless]]

+ * [[aircraft]]

+ * [[campcraft]]

+ * [[craftsperson]]

+ * [[craftswoman]]

+ * [[craftwork]]

+ * [[handcraft]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[crafty]]

+ * [[handicraft]]

+ * [[witchcraft]]

+ * [[crave]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The AHD notes that craft has been a verb since Old English, used in Middle English of the artful construction of a text, and that crafted has lately had a vogue among reviewers for well-wrought writing.^(AHD) In Scots and northern dialect craft was also skill or special knowledge, as in star-craft.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}