inertyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[inert 词源字典]
inert: [17] The -ert of inert is the same word as art. The word comes from Latin iners, which originally meant ‘unskilled’, but soon developed semantically to ‘inactive’. It was formed with the negative prefix in- from ars ‘skill’, source of English art. The derivative inertia [18] is a Latin formation. In classical times it meant simply ‘lack of skill, idleness’; it was Johannes Kepler who first used it as a technical term in physics in the 17th century.
=> art, inertia[inert etymology, inert origin, 英语词源]
inert (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1640s, from French inerte (16c.) or directly from Latin inertem (nominative iners) "unskilled, inactive, helpless, sluggish, worthless," from in- "without" + ars (genitive artis) "skill" (see art (n.)). Originally of matter; specifically of gases from 1885. Of persons or creatures, from 1774.