grotesque
The adjective grotesque means whimsical, distorted, strange, exaggerated. In colloquial usage, it often has a derogatory meaning as an enhancement particle (“grotesque misjudgment”, “grotesque distortion of the facts”). As an artistic or art-historical term (that or the grotesque ), it can be understood to be neutral.
In historical texts, “grotesque” can be ethnophaulism , ie a derogatory qualification for an ethnic or social group (“the grotesque savage”).
etymology
The word was borrowed in the 16th century via French grotesque from Italian grottesco , an adjective derived from grotta ' grotto '. Grottesco initially referred to fantastic ancient ceiling paintings in grottesca pittura , which were found in grottos, caverns and other buildings of the Roman period and were revived as ornament form or grotesque painting, especially in the Renaissance and with Mannerism .
It was not until the middle of the 18th century that it broke out of its technical isolation and since then has been substantiated both in terms of its general meaning and in connection with other genres of art than painting.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ for example in Thea Wolf: In the Land of Light. A foray through Kabylie and Desert , Deuticke, Berlin 1913, p. 76.
- ↑ Duden: Etymology. Dictionary of origin of the German language. Volume 7, Bibliographisches Institut, Mannheim 1963, pp. 237f. ISBN 3-411-00907-1 .