“Literary artist” (with no “e” at the end of the word artist) was the term I had used to describe Ngugi wa Thiong’o, the celebrated Kenyan story-teller. But, since English has both forms, why did the sub-editor’s addition of the letter “e” to my original word artist annoy me so? Both forms (artist and artiste) entered English, through French, from the Latin ars, which referred to any craftsmanship. GOOD INTENTIONSIt was, however, with good “intentions” that English also borrowed the French word artiste all complete with the “e”. Whereas Ngugi wa Thiong’o’ is an artist, Benson Wanjau (Ojwang Hatari of the television series Vitimbi) is an artiste.

Source: Daily Nation July 24, 2020 21:00 UTC