Etymology From Middle English artik, artyk (with -c- reintroduced after Latin in the 17th century), from Medieval Latin articus, from Latin arcticus, from Ancient Greek ἀρκτικός (arktikós, “northern, of the (Great) Bear”), from ἄρκτος (árktos, “bear, Ursa Major”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ŕ̥tḱos (“bear”). Cognate with Latin ursus.
1
Astronomy, Natural sciencesIn compounds Pertaining to the celestial north pole, or to the pole star.
2
Geography, Natural sciences Pertaining to the northern polar region of the planet, characterised by extreme cold and an icy landscape.
What neede the artick people loue star-light, To whom the sunne shines both by day and night.1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
[…] on th’ other side Incenc’t with indignation Satan stood Unterrifi’d, and like a Comet burn’d, That fires the length of Ophiucus huge In th’ Artick Sky, and from his horrid hair Shakes Pestilence and Warr.1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 706-711:
2 more examples
See FREEDOM smiling thro’ the realms of frost, And glow on Labradore’s inclement coast, Tho’ darkness sheds deep night thro’ half the year, And snow invests the clime,—that clime is dear, For there fair LIBERTY resides, and there At large the native breasts the searching air, Where blows the arctic tempests icy gale, And famine seizes on the spermy whale,1788, Samuel Jackson Pratt, Humanity, or the Rights of Nature, London: T. Cadell, Book 2, p. 96:
A medical examination determined who was to be sent on to Norilsk in the Arctic.1968, Robert Conquest, “A Nation in Torment”, in The Great Terror: Stalin's Purge of the Thirties, Macmillan Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 327:
3
Extremely cold, snowy, or having other properties of extreme winter associated with the Arctic.
‘Could you close that window, please!’ Strickland called, dialling again. ‘It's bloody arctic down this end.’1979, John Le Carré, Smiley's People, Folio Society, published 2010, page 45:
4
Designed for use in very cold conditions.
Arctic
noun
Etymology From Middle English artik, artyk (with -c- reintroduced after Latin in the 17th century), from Medieval Latin articus, from Latin arcticus, from Ancient Greek ἀρκτικός (arktikós, “northern, of the (Great) Bear”), from ἄρκτος (árktos, “bear, Ursa Major”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ŕ̥tḱos (“bear”). Cognate with Latin ursus.