distribute

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English distributen,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin distribūtus, the past participle of distribuō (“to divide, deal out in portions”),^[4][2][5][6] made of dis- (“apart, in various directions”) and tribuō (“to assign, grant, allot”),^[4][2][7] the verb behind tribute.^[5][8] Etymonline connects tribuō with tribus (“tribe”), since it could also mean "to allot among the tribes".^[2] Johnson (1755) gave the Latin verb as its source.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To deal out something in shares among a number of people: a1464, in John Capgrave's Abbreuiacion of Cronicles.^[4] Barnhart dates the verb to probably before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon, and Etymonline to the early 15th century.^[5][2] A past participle distribute, "distributed", is recorded from 1434.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From giving out shares the verb widened to spreading things over a whole space or surface (?c1510)^[4][10] and to dividing a whole into parts with different functions (1553);^[4] Etymonline dates the meaning "separate and put in order" to the 1550s.^[2] Shakespeare used it in Coriolanus for administering justice, a sense obsolete after 1746.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined the verb as to divide among more than two, to deal out.^[9] Later technical senses include classifying (1664), dividing in arithmetic (1593–1702, now obsolete), returning used type to its case in printing (1615), and, in logic, using a term so that it covers every member of its class (1827).^[4][10]

Timeline

• probably before 1425 – Barnhart's first date.^[5]
• 1434 – distribute as a past participle, “distributed”.^[4]
• a1464 – to deal out in shares.^[4]
• ?c1510 – to spread over a space or surface.^[4]
• 1553 – to divide a whole into distinct parts.^[4]
• 1593 – (arithmetic) to divide (obsolete by 1702).^[4]
• 1615 – (printing) to put used type back in its case.^[4]
• a1616 – to administer justice (obsolete).^[4]
• 1664 – to classify.^[4]
• 1827 – (logic) to use a term in its full extension.^[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To give out something in shares to a number of people; to allot or apportion.
2. To hand out or deliver to many people or places: Volunteers distributed blankets at the station.
3. To spread or scatter over an area or through a space, often in the passive: The plant is distributed across the northern hills.
4. To divide into classes or groups; to classify.
5. (printing) To return used type to its proper places in the case.
6. (logic) To use a term so that it refers to every member of the class it names.

Word family

• distributee
• distributable
• distributary
• distributer
• redistribute
• distribution
• distributor

Related words

• tribute
• tribe
• contribute
• attribute
• retribution

Usage notes

Dictionary.com contrasts distribute, which suggests giving a definite or limited amount out in measured shares to individuals, with dispense, which once suggested liberal, general giving and now mostly means giving from an official source according to need.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House