Advertisement

Origin and history of technique

technique(n.)

"performance method of an art," 1817, from French technique "formal practical details in artistic expression" (18c.), noun use of technique (adj.) "of art, technical," which is from a Latinized form of Greek tekhnikos "pertaining to art," from tekhnē "art, skill, craft in work" (see techno-). At first it was used especially in criticism of art and music.

also from 1817

Entries linking to technique

technic(adj.)

1610s, "technical, pertaining to an art," from Latin technicus, from Greek tekhnikos "of or pertaining to art, experienced in art, made by art," from tekhnē "art, skill, craft" (see techno-).

As a noun, "performance method of an art," by 1855, a nativization of technique. Specifically in music denoting all that applies to the purely mechanical part of performance (as distinguished from emotion, interpretation).

techno-

word-forming element active from mid-19c. and meaning "art, craft, skill," later "technical, technology," from Latinized form of Greek tekhno-, combining form of tekhnē "art, skill, craftsmanship, craft in work; method, system, an art, a system or method of making or doing," from PIE *teks-na- "craft" (of weaving or fabricating), from suffixed (or reduplicated) form of root *teks- "to weave," also "to fabricate." The full range of the Greek word is difficult to translate into English.

[Greek Technē] includes both the fine arts (music) and the practical arts (cookery); all forms of skilled craftsmanship (ship-building) and various professional activities (navigation and soldiering); besides activities calling for scientific skill (medicine). It may thus be said to cover any skilled activity with its rules of operation, the knowledge of which is acquired by training. [note in Sir Desmond Lee translation of Plato's "Republic"] 
    Advertisement

    More to explore

    proficiency
    1540s, "advancement, progress" (a sense now obsolete), probably from abstract noun suffix -cy + Latin proficientem (nominative proficiens), present participle of proficere "accomplish, make progress; be useful, do good; have success, profit," from pro "forward" (see pro-) + combi
    flop
    The Fosbury flop high-jumping technique (1968) is so called in reference to U.S. athlete Dick Fosbury (b. 1947), who used...
    revulsion
    1540s, as a medical term for counter-irritation as a healing technique, from French revulsion (16c.) or directly from Latin...
    technology
    or treatise on an art or the arts," from Latinized form of Greek tekhnologia "systematic treatment of an art, craft, or technique...
    crumble
    "The technique itself seems to have been a product of Second World War culinary making-do" [Ayto, "Diner's Dictionary"]....
    vaccination
    1800, used by British physician Edward Jenner (1749-1823) for the technique he publicized of preventing smallpox by injecting...
    eclair
    It may be from the technique of pumping the dough into shape with a cornet, which would look to the baker like a streak of...
    emulation
    "effort to equal or excel in qualities or actions that one admires in another or others; imitative rivalry," 1550s, from French émulation (13c.) and directly from Latin aemulationem (nominative aemulatio) "rivalry, emulation, competition," noun of action from past-participle stem
    simulation
    mid-14c., simulacioun, "a false show, false profession," from Old French simulation "pretence" and directly from Latin simulationem (nominative simulatio) "an imitating, feigning, false show, hypocrisy," noun of action from past-participle stem of simulare "imitate," from stem of
    method
    early 15c., "regular, systematic treatment of disease," from Latin methodus "way of teaching or going," from Greek methodos "scientific inquiry, method of inquiry, investigation," originally "pursuit, a following after," from meta "in pursuit or quest of" (see meta-) + hodos "a m

    Share technique

    Advertisement
    Trending
    Dictionary entries near technique
    Advertisement