The word for an artist in Italian is artista. Despite the -a ending, this noun applies to both male and female artists, with the respective plurals being artisti (for men or mixed groups) and artiste (for women).
One way of telling whether the artist in question is male or female is by looking at the indefinite article. Whereas both require l’ (the) as their definite article, only the female version takes an apostrophe after un (a / an).
- male = l’artista / un artista
- female = l’artista / un’artista
Mauro sta studiando gli artisti del Rinascimento.
Mauro is studying the artists of the Renaissance.
In addition to denoting a person who creates drawings or paintings, artista can also refer more broadly to professionals involved in the field of entertainment including performers, actors, and singers. A street artist translates as artista di strada.
Ho sempre voluto essere un artista di teatro.
I’ve always wanted to be a stage performer.
What’s more, it can denote someone who is a genius, master or wizard in a particular field. For example:
- un artista del computer = a computer whiz
- un artista della finanza = a financial whiz
Finally, it can refer to a person who appreciates art and beauty and has a gentle character.
Paola ha un’anima d’artista.
Paola has the soul of an artist.
What It Means
1 a : clever or artful skill : ingenuity
b : an ingenious device or expedient
2 a : an artful stratagem : trick
b : false or insincere behavior
artifice in Context
«A generation that’s grown up with Snapchat-filtered selfies and pop feminism seems to have an innate understanding that artifice doesn’t negate authenticity, or that a penchant for towering wigs and acrylic nails doesn’t prevent someone from being a songwriting genius.» — Lindsay Zoladz, The New York Times, 21 Nov. 2019
«It could all be rather enervating, but the sheer polish and panache of the cast’s fluttering antics brings a smile to the lips—and Wilson introduced a soupçon of reality to offset the artifice. Having pretended to have a boyfriend, wealthy heiress Polly Browne … affects to be a humble secretary after she’s instantly smitten with errant rich-kid Tony, who’s slumming it as an errand boy.» — Dominic Cavendish, The Daily Telegraph (London), 3 Dec. 2019
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Did You Know?
Do great actors display artifice or art? Sometimes a bit of both. Artifice stresses creative skill or intelligence, but it also implies a sense of falseness and trickery. Art generally rises above such falseness, suggesting instead an unanalyzable creative force. Actors may rely on some of each, but the personae they display in their roles are usually artificial creations. Therein lies a lexical connection between art and artifice. Artifice derives from artificium, Latin for «artifice.» That root also gave English artificial. Artificium, in turn, developed from ars, the Latin root underlying the word art (and related terms such as artist and artisan).
Word Family Quiz
What 5-letter adjective is a descendant of Latin ars («skill») and means «lacking the power to move»?
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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Word of the day
noun
exceptional ability, good luck, success.
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What is the origin of mojo?
Mojo “exceptional ability, good luck, success” in its earliest sense denoted an object that was believed to carry a magic spell. From there, the word expanded to indicate magic itself and personal use of magic, and mojo’s popular use today in reference to seemingly magical influence or ability is informal. Mojo is of uncertain origin but is most likely related to the word moco “witchcraft, magic” in Gullah, a creole language spoken by an African-American population located along the southern Atlantic coast. Though Gullah is based on English, it incorporates ample vocabulary from the Niger–Congo language subfamily, which is spread across much of sub-Saharan Africa and includes languages such as Fulani, Mende, Yoruba, Swahili, and Zulu. Gullah moco may have its origin in one of these languages, as the Fulani word for “medicine man” is moco’o. Mojo was first recorded in the late 1920s.
how is mojo used?
Here’s a confession: For the last week or so I’ve felt a little drained. Low energy, low motivation, a sense that something is a little off. It’s nothing serious, but one of those passing phases we’re all familiar with when things feel overwhelming. As an old editor of mine used to put it: My mojo is a little off.
Tim Herrera, “Feeling Burned Out? Here Are 3 Things That Can Help,” New York Times, May 6, 2018
Powers, here, Austin Powers. You know, Powers by name, Powers by reputation. Crikey, it’s been a long time. Finally somebody besides Dr. Evil’s invented a time machine to take us back to the 60’s. Back to the old U.K.—my time! Back to London at its swingingest, most smashing, most shagadelic, when I made my bones! When England—not America—had the mojo, when every man wanted to be me, and every dolly bird wanted to be with me!
Michiko Kakutani, «Books of the Times; Hipoisie and Chic-oisie And London Had the Mojo,» New York Times, July 23, 2002
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Word of the day
colubrine
[ kol—uh-brahyn, -brin, -yuh— ]
adjective
of or resembling a snake; snakelike.
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What is the origin of colubrine?
Colubrine “of or resembling a snake” derives from the Latin adjective colubrīnus, of the same meaning, from coluber “snake.” Despite the similar spelling, coluber is not the source of coil, the circular gathering movement that typifies snakes; coil derives instead from the Latin verb colligere “to gather together,” and coil’s resemblance to colubrine is a happy coincidence. Much as English has multiple names for wolverines, as we learned in yesterday’s Word of the Day podcast about quickhatch, the Romans had several words for snakes. In addition to coluber, two other Latin terms meaning “snake” that have descendants in English were dracō and serpēns, which you may also recognize as constellations. From dracō, originally a borrowing from Ancient Greek, we have dragon as well as draconian and the name of an antagonist in the Harry Potter book series. From serpēns, literally meaning “crawling,” English has serpent and serpentine. Colubrine was first recorded in English in the 1520s.
how is colubrine used?
On that lonely island in Aasha’s picture Chellam wanders … Inside her head a dozen snakes lie coiled around one another in a heavy mass. Inside her belly stands a tiny matchstick figure, a smaller version of herself … This matchstick representation of Chellam is accurate in at least one respect: there is indeed a terrible colubrine knot of bad memories and black questions inside Chellam’s head that will die with her, unhatched.
Preeta Samarasan, Evening Is the Whole Day, 2008
Moore uses quotations most often to describe the male figure, and in reshaping the words of male writers, she undercuts both his character and language …. The snippet of [Philip] Littell’s words in the poem is “something feline, / something colubrine.” In different ways, the two adjectives reflect a certain denigration of male power. A description of a male figure as colubrine has phallic overtones, but also the negative connotations of a snake; feline is typically used in reference to a female…
Elisabeth W. Joyce, «The Collage of ‘Marriage’: Marianne Moore’s Formal and Cultural Critique,» Mosaic, Vol. 26, Fall 1993
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Word of the day
Saturday, October 16, 2021
quickhatch
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What is the origin of quickhatch?
Quickhatch “wolverine” is a borrowing of East Cree kwi˙hkwaha˙če˙w, with the spelling and pronunciation altered significantly probably because of association with the similar-sounding yet unrelated words quick and hatch. East Cree belongs to the Algonquian family of languages, and the cognate of kwi˙hkwaha˙če˙w in East Cree’s close relative Montagnais was kwa·hkwa·če·w, which was borrowed into French and became carcajou, another name for the wolverine. Wolverines are also known as gluttons, and while glutton is of Latin origin, it is used as a name for wolverines as a translation of German Vielfrass “eating much.” Quickhatch was first recorded in English in the late 1600s.
how is quickhatch used?
He is sometimes called wolverine .… The European labourers in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company call him Quickhatch …. Some people seem to think that he is a variety of the badger; others, that he is a kind of bear. The glutton is so greedy that he stuffs himself till he is ready to burst. But some writers say that this is fable. But all agree that he is very troublesome to man.
Thomas Jackson, Stories about Animals, 1874
The wolverine—also called the mountain devil, the quickhatch, the carcajou, the skunk bear––is a cantankerous, and sometimes vicious animal about the size of a small labrador retriever. It is the largest land dweller in the weasel family, and an an odd fit to be at the vanguard in the debate of how climate change threatens animals and what should be done about it.
J. Weston Phippen, «Great News For Wolverines, and a Lashing For U.S. Fish and Wildlife,» The Atlantic, April 8, 2016
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Guest Writers Series Emily Louise Howard thediggingestgirl.etsy.com It’s time to write the book already! Artist Bio: Welcome to The Diggingest Girl, fine art and crafts by Emily Louise Howard! A little about me: I have been a lover of art since childhood — whether I was carving shrunken heads out of apples with my mom or drawing on the underside of her kitchen table. Since then I’ve matured just a little and I now hold a Masters Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Cincinnati (I…