art [ME] Originally art was simply ‘skill at doing something’. Its use in the modern sense dates from the mid 16th century. The word comes from Latin ars, from a base which meant ‘to put together, join, or fit’. There are many related words which stress the more practical roots of the word. These include artefact [M17th] from Latin arte factum ‘something made by art’; artifice [LME] from the same roots; and artisan [M16th] French for a skilled craftsman. Artificial [LME] could have the sense ‘skilful’ as well as modern senses. Artificial intelligence is first recorded in 1955. The phrase art for art’s sake was the slogan of the Aesthetic Movement, which flourished in England during the 1880s. It first appeared in the early 19th century as a direct translation from the slightly earlier French. The Latin translation of the phrase, ars gratia artis, is the motto of the film company MGM, and appears around the roaring lion in its famous logo. Art deco, was shortened from French art décoratif ‘decorative art’, from the 1925 Exhibition title ‘Exposition des Arts décoratifs’ in Paris. Latin iners which gives us inert [M17th] and inertia [M16th] meant ‘unskilled, inactive’, and was formed as the opposite of ars.