What would you consider a martial artist? Options

[LittleDeathAngel]

A martial artist can use his/her techniques for self-defense.

Most self-defense techniques come from martial arts.

Yet can a person who solely practices self-defense be considered a martial artist?

[chiuchimu]

Anyone who has trained and became proficient in the techniques of hurting/killing of persons by the use of bare hands or with the aid of simple bladed/blunt weapons.

With that said, being proficient in a technique and a technique being effective are two entirely different things. Hence a martial artist can be an expert at his style of martial arts but not be an effective fighter/killer.

[KraterosHellas]

in a deeper sense, it's someone who strategically employs command over a battlefield moving large number of troops and equipments to conduct military exploits.

i consider people like alexander the great, cyrus the great, hannibal, scipio, belisarius as true martial artists. battles of gaugamela, trasimene, cannae, zama were some of the best martial artist display summum bonum ever performed on the world stage...