Antic grotesquerie.

I'd thought this morning was the first time I'd ever used the word "grotesquerie" on this blog. I was talking about the female Olympics figure skaters. But no, back in 2014, I wrote of "the grotesquerie of politicians finding love with the Hollywood stars." I did not like seeing Leonardo DiCaprio and John Kerry locked in embrace.

But it felt new. I even looked it up in the OED to see if it counted as an English word (because if it were only a foreign-language word, I'd have put it in italics). Yes, it's English. They were saying it back in 1655:

1655    Ld. Orrery Parthenissa IV.  ii. vi. 536   In a large Compartiment compos'd of Groteskery were seene Sphynxes, Harpyes, the Clawes of Lyons, and Tygres, to evidence, that within, inhabited Misteries, and Riddles.

Of course, "grotesquerie" is just a noun version of "grotesque," and I got sidetracked into the original meaning of "grotesque": "A kind of decorative painting or sculpture, consisting of representations of portions of human and animal forms, fantastically combined and interwoven with foliage and flowers." 

That itself is a noun. But it was also used as an adjective to refer to things in that style and then, "In a wider sense, of designs or forms: Characterized by distortion or unnatural combinations; fantastically extravagant; bizarre.... Ludicrous from incongruity; fantastically absurd."

1841    C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop  i. iii. 85 But what added most to the grotesque expression of his face, was a ghastly smile.

But what's most interesting here is the etymology. "Grotesque" may come from "grotto" — that is, the picturesque cave. The Online Etymology Dictionary says:

... from French crotesque (16c., Modern French grotesque), from Italian grottesco, literally "of a cave," from grotta.... The explanation that the word first was used of paintings found on the walls of Roman ruins revealed by excavation (Italian pittura grottesca) is "intrinsically plausible," according to OED.....

"Grotto" itself is a corruption of crypta "vault, cavern," from Greek krypte "hidden place."

"Grotesque" is also discussed at the Online Etymology Dictionary entry for "antic":

1520s, antick, antyke, later antique (with accent on the first syllable), "grotesque or comical gesture," from Italian antico "antique," from Latin antiquus "old, ancient; old-fashioned" (see antique (adj.)). In art, "fantastical figures, incongruously combined" (1540s).

Originally (like grotesque) a 16c. Italian word referring to the strange and fantastic representations on ancient murals unearthed around Rome (especially the Baths of Titus, rediscovered 16c.); later extended to "any bizarre thing or behavior," in which sense it first arrived in English. As an adjective in English from 1580s, "grotesque, bizarre." In 17c. the spelling antique was restricted to the original sense of that word.

Does the etymology affect how you think about these words? Had you known how grounded they were in visual art?