Where does the name state-of-the-art come from?

Answer 1

The Oxford English Dictionary states that the phrase started out in the late 19th century as status of the art.In other words, the current condition or level which some technical art had reached. By the beginning of the 20th century, the phrase had changed to its modern form with the same meaning of "the current stage of development of a practical or technological subject". It may have changed its form by error, or by the process that grammarians call folk etymology or popular etymology, by which words change to fit speaker's misconceptions of their real meanings. By the 1960s, the word had shifted sense slightly to the way we use it now, which implies the newest or best techniques in some product or activity.

2nd answerer says:1967, from noun phrase (1910), earlier status of the art (1889). The phrase itself was in use from mid-19c.

The real spirit of using 'state of new art' is to demarcate new developments in the previous status of the development in any specified field. For example, the scientists Ostwald and Traube developed Viscosmeter and Stalagmometer as individual new state of arts for measuring the viscosity and surface tension of liquid mixtures respectively. But in 2008 through a patent granted by Singapore Govt., a new device is claimed for measuring surface tension, viscosity, interfacial tension, wetting coefficient, friccohesity together with single equipment This equipment is named as survismeter and is developed by Mansingh listed as Mansingh survismeter. so such new development is noted as non-obviousness for developing a new state of arts.