Pragmatic
late 16th century (in the senses ‘busy, interfering, conceited’): via Latin from Greek pragmatikos ‘relating to fact’, from pragma ‘deed’ (from the stem of prattein ‘do’). The current senses date from the mid 19th century.
wiktionary
From Middle French pragmatique, from Late Latin pragmaticus(“relating to civil affair; in Latin, as a noun, a person versed in the law who furnished arguments and points to advocates and orators, a kind of attorney”), from Ancient Greek πραγματικός(pragmatikós, “active, versed in affairs”), from πρᾶγμα(prâgma, “a thing done, a fact”), in plural πράγματα(prágmata, “affairs, state affairs, public business, etc.”), from πράσσω(prássō, “to do”) (whence English practical).
etymonline
pragmatic (adj.)
1610s, "meddlesome, impertinently busy," short for earlier pragmatical, or else from French pragmatique (15c.), from Latin pragmaticus "skilled in business or law," from Greek pragmatikos "fit for business, active, business-like; systematic," from pragma (genitive pragmatos) "a deed, act; that which has been done; a thing, matter, affair," especially an important one; also a euphemism for something bad or disgraceful; in plural, "circumstances, affairs" (public or private, often in a bad sense, "trouble"), literally "a thing done," from stem of prassein/prattein "to do, act, perform" (see practical).
From 1640s as "relating to the affairs of a state or community." Meaning "matter-of-fact, treating facts systematically and practically" is from 1853 (Matthew Arnold). In some later senses from German pragmatisch.
