Partie

Forms

Partie f (genitive Partie, plural Partien)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French partie (“part; party; game”), taken over in the 17th century, and so lacks the diphthong of Partei, the same French word borrowed in Middle High German.^[2][3][4] The French noun is the past participle of Old French partir (“to divide”) used as a noun, from Latin partior (“to share, divide”), from pars (“part”).^[2] The sense “match, marriage prospect” comes instead from the masculine parti.^[3][4][5] Related loans are Dutch partij, English party and Swedish parti.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grimms explain that the 17th century gave the word back its French form, keeping it for some of the French senses.^[6] Logau uses it of detachments of troops (sie schicken halb armeen, die nennen sie partyen), and Pfeifer finds it now and then in the 17th century, beside Partei, for a group of people.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

Pfeifer dates “round of a game” to the 17th century, “marriage, marriage prospect” likewise, “excursion” to the beginning of the 18th, and the vocal part, the lot of goods in trade and the passage of a literary work to the 18th.^[3] Kluge explains Landpartie and Jagdpartie as a transfer from the company of people to what they do together.^[2] The DFWB quotes the sense “part of a poem” from Gleim and Ramler in 1750, and Duden notes that “excursion” survives mainly in dialects.^[4][7] Von der Partie sein “to take part” goes with the sense of a company of people.^[3][6]

It was borrowed into Hungarian as parti (1789) “marriage prospect”, and Russian партия may come from it, from Polish or directly from French.^[8][1]

Timeline

• 17th century – Partie is borrowed from French;^[2][3] “round of a game”, “marriage”.^[2][3]
• Early 18th century – “excursion”.^[3]
• 1750 – “part of a poem” in Gleim and Ramler.^[4]
• 18th century – “vocal part” and “lot of goods”.^[3]
• 1789 – Hungarian parti.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A part or section of a larger whole: die hinteren Partien des Gartens.^[9][1]
2. A round or game of a game or contest: Wollen wir eine Partie Tischtennis spielen?^[9][1]
3. A role in an opera or other sung stage work.^[9][10]
4. (commerce) A lot or batch of goods.^[9][11]
5. (dated) An outing of a group of people;^[9] mit von der Partie sein (colloquial) “to join in, be there too”.^[9]
6. eine gute Partie sein: to bring a lot of money into a marriage;^[9][11] eine gute Partie machen: to marry a wealthy partner.^[9][11]
7. (Austria) A gang of workers put together for a job.^[9]

Word family

• Landpartie
• Jagdpartie
• Schachpartie
• Gesangspartie
• Gesichtspartie

Related words

• Partei
• Party
• Part

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 685
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
4. ^ a b c d Schulz, Hans; Basler, Otto, et al. (1913–1988), Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch, 7 vols., Strasbourg / Berlin: Trübner / De Gruyter; 2nd ed., ed. Gerhard Strauß et al. (1995–), Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; via OWID, Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache
5. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
6. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 13, 1477
7. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 611
8. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
10. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
11. ^ a b c Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag