The Olympic logo. Five conjoined rings of different colors. The modern Olympic games were conceived as the pinnacle of amateur athletics but have become increasingly populated by professional athletes.
20 May 2022
Amateur is a direct borrowing from the French, which in turn descends from the Latin amator. Both the French and Latin literally mean lover, but both are also often used in the context of a connoisseur of or participant in a particular art or activity. The English word appears in the eighteenth century, and today, amateur is used in many fields but perhaps most frequently in the context of sports.
From the very beginning, English use of amateur has carried the implication of someone who has less skill or knowledge than a professional, that is a somewhat depreciative connotation, if only in a self-deprecating context. We see this in the first known English use of the word, a letter by an anonymous writer using the pseudonym William Freeman from 27 December 1728 (but not published until 1757):
We pass our time very agreeably, you know we are musical people; Clarinda and my Lucinda are both good performers on the harpsichord, and sing in a pleasing manner, Leontes plays the flute in the most perfect taste of the instrument, the good Aristos is our violoncello, and myself with some neighbouring gentlemen are the violins. We make a tolerable concert for Amateurs, and thus entertain ourselves whenever we have the inclination.
And there is this from a 1765 book on gardening by James Justice:
Thus I have given what knowledge I have obtained from experience, (my only guide) of the different soils and composts for the Gardeners, and if properly attended to, with the other directions in the following Piece, I flatter myself I shall be remembered with esteem, and considered by the Amateur an useful Member to Society.
Despite its inclusion of the citation of the Freeman letter, the Oxford English Dictionary dates the depreciative sense from 1767. Clearly, the depreciative connotation is older.
The phrase rank amateur dates to at least 1873. The rank here means utter, absolute, of the worst kind. It first appears in a response to a reader who used the pseudonym “rank amateur” when writing to the British Journal of Photography.
Sources:
“Answers to Correspondents.” British Journal of Photography, 28 February 1873, 106. ProQuest Trade Journals.
Freeman, William. Letter 13, 27 December 1728. Letters on Several Occasions. London, R. Manby, 1757, 64–65. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
Justice, James. The British Gardener’s New Director. Dublin: John Exshaw, 1765, xii. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, June 2021, s.v. amateur, n. and adj.; June 2008, rank, adj. and adv.
Image credit, Pierre de Coubertin, 1913. Public domain image. While the Olympic logo is no longer under copyright, its use as a trademark is restricted.