Nowadays, almost everyone, often not knowing the true meaning, uses a word like an amateur. This is one of those terms that sounds majestic, beautiful, and exquisite, but far from always appropriate. In order for you to be able to use this word competently, and most importantly, at the right moments, let's try to figure out its origin and current meaning.
History of the origin of the term
There is a version according to which the amateur is a borrowed expression that migrated to our speech from the French language. However, if you dig deeper into the very root of the etymology of this word, you can find that in its lexical structure dilettante is an Italian word. It passed into the same language from the long-dead Latin, where it sounded like delecrate, which in translation into Russian means to amuse, delight, and love. In the days of the Roman Empire, this term was used when it came to a certain artist who did his job without special training. True, at that time there were no schools in our modern sense. Everyone studied on their own, so the amateur - it was, so to speak, a prestigious “title”, which was given to capable, gifted by nature people.
Europe in the 19-20 centuries
When schools, universities, specialized educational institutions appeared in the countries of the Old World where one could get education in one of the directions, the meaning of the term changed. After all, people who graduated from the same institute were considered professionals (in every sense of the word), and those self-taught people who worked alongside them were simply and briefly called amateur. This is a man who, with his talents and abilities, probably did not concede anything to a professional, but did not have specialized training, and everything he did, he did in his own way, different from the usual standards for all. Naturally, society did not always (or rather, very rarely) recognize such craftsmen, which influenced the further change in the meaning of the word, from neutral to more negative.
The term "amateur" in Russian language and culture
The word "amateur" appeared in the conversations and literature of Russian people at the beginning of the 19th century, and it came to us precisely from France (which is why the version about its French origin appeared). At that time it was fashionable to speak this language, and indeed our ancestors often copied the culture of the West. In those days, amateurs were often called people who were related to music. There were very few professional schools, so those who wanted to play the piano, violin, or other instruments often studied themselves or borrowed experience from friends, acquaintances, and senior officials. Dilettantism in music was very common, therefore, among the self-taught artists there were both brilliant personalities and completely incapable people. It is interesting to know that the famous composer Schubert, in fact, was also an amateur. He spent his entire youth in the attic, at the keys of an old piano, composing his tunes. He even came up with his own names of notes, and only at the age of 20 he learned professionally.
Acquisition of Broad Importance
In the 20th century, the term began to apply to almost all spheres of human life. Amateurs were people who were unprofessionally engaged in painting, sculpture, theater and music. They were equated with scientists who conducted their experiments, being uneducated and not even read in a certain field of knowledge. Among those, a lot of non-professionals really divorced, who simply wanted to become famous, having no base and training. In our time, an amateur is a person who, doing his job, does poor work because of his ignorance. As you can see, the word has not lost its original essence, it has only slightly expanded the scope of application.