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Origin and history of artificiality

artificiality(n.)

"appearance of art; insincerity," 1763; see artificial + -ity. Earlier was artificialness (1590s); Middle English had artificy (early 15c.).

also from 1763

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artificial(adj.)

late 14c., "not natural or spontaneous," from Old French artificial, from Latin artificialis "of or belonging to art," from artificium "a work of art; skill; theory, system," from artifex (genitive artificis) "craftsman, artist, master of an art" (music, acting, sculpting, etc.), from stem of ars "art" (see art (n.)) + -fex "maker," from facere "to do, make" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put").

The earliest use in English seems to be in the phrase artificial day "part of the day from sunrise to sunset" (as opposed to the natural day of 24 hours). The meaning "made by man, contrived by human skill and labor" is from early 15c. The word was applied from 16c. to anything made in imitation of, or as a substitute for, what is natural, whether real (light, tears) or not (teeth, flowers). The meaning "fictitious, assumed, not genuine" is from 1640s; that of "full of affectation, insincere" is from 1590s.

Artificial insemination dates from 1894. Artificial intelligence "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines" was coined in 1956.

-ity

word-forming element making abstract nouns from adjectives and meaning "condition or quality of being ______," from Middle English -ite, from Old French -ete (Modern French -ité) and directly from Latin -itatem (nominative -itas), suffix denoting state or condition, composed of -i- (from the stem or else a connective) + the common abstract suffix -tas (see -ty (2)).

Roughly, the word in -ity usually means the quality of being what the adjective describes, or concretely an instance of the quality, or collectively all the instances; & the word in -ism means the disposition, or collectively all those who feel it. [Fowler]
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    pose
    The intransitive sense of "assume a certain attitude or character" (with implications of artificiality) is from 1840; the...
    pretension
    mid-15c., pretensioun, "assertion, allegation; objection; intention; signification," from Medieval Latin pretensionem (nominative pretensio), noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin praetendere "stretch in front, put forward, allege" (see pretend (v.)). Meaning "unprove
    pretense
    also pretence, early 15c., "the putting forth of a claim; false or hypocritical profession, feigning, disguise, that under cover of which an actual design or meaning is concealed," also "a stated ground or reason, an assertion of a legal right," from Anglo-French pretensse (Moder
    patient
    mid-14c., paciente, "capable of enduring misfortune, suffering, etc., without complaint," from Old French pacient and directly from Latin patientem "bearing, supporting, suffering, enduring, permitting" (see patience). From late 14c. as "slow to anger, self-restrained, having the
    compensate
    1640s, "to be equivalent;" 1650s, "to counterbalance, make up for, give a substitute of equal value to," from Latin compensatus, past participle of compensare "to weigh one thing (against another)," thus, "to counterbalance," etymologically "to weigh together," from com "with, to
    maverick
    1867, "calf or yearling found without an owner's brand," a word from the great cattle ranches of the American West, so called for Samuel A. Maverick (1803-1870), Texas cattle owner who was notoriously negligent in branding his calves. All neat stock found running at large in thi
    refrain
    mid-14c., refreinen, transitive, "exercise control over, restrain; hold (someone or something) back from action," senses now obsolete, also "exercise control over" (thoughts, desires, feelings, vices, etc.); from Old French refraigner, refrener, refreiner "restrain, repress, keep
    algebra
    "formal mathematics; the analysis of equations; the art of reasoning about quantitative relations by the aid of a compact and highly systematized notation," 1550s, from Medieval Latin algebra, from Arabic "al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wa al-muqabala" ("the compendium on calculat
    nerve
    late 14c., nerve, nerf, "sinew, tendon, hard cord of the body" (a sense now obsolete), also "fiber or bundle of fibers that convey the capacity to feel or move from the brain or spinal cord to the body," from Old French nerf and directly from Medieval Latin nervus "a nerve," from
    moor
    "to fasten (a ship) in a particular location by or as by cables, anchors, etc.," late 15c., probably related to Old English mærels "mooring rope," via unrecorded *mærian "to moor," or possibly borrowed from Middle Low German moren or Middle Dutch maren "to moor," from West German

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