Etymologically
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party

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈpɑː.ti/, US /ˈpɑːr.t̬i/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English partie (“part, side, group”), borrowed from Old French partie (“part, share; side; separation”),[2][3][4] the noun use of the feminine past participle of partir (“to divide”),[2][3] from Latin partīre or partīrī (“to share, divide”),[2][5] from pars (“part, share”).[2][4] Some senses, including the military and political ones, follow the later French masculine form parti.[6][7] Etymonline traces the Latin noun to Proto-Indo-European *perə- (“to grant, allot”).[2] The heraldic adjective party “divided into parts of different tinctures” comes from the same French participle.[8][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A part, division or portion, and a side, end or edge (probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder).[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In early use party often stands where modern English has part.[2] About 1300 it came to mean those on one side in a contest, and in law a litigant or a person bound by an agreement,[2][3] and also a number of people supporting a cause or person, the root of the political sense.[2] Any group of people (early 14th century), a single person (mid-15th century) and a detachment of troops (1640s) followed.[2][6] The sense “a gathering for social pleasure” is from 1716, from groups gathered for a purpose such as a dinner party or hunting party, and “a group doing something together” from 1773,[2][3] and Barnhart takes both from French partie.[3] The verb meant “to side with” (before 1639, now obsolete) and “to have a good time at parties” from 1922, in E. E. Cummings's letters.[3][2] The party is over dates from 1937, and party pooper is American English of 1951.[2]

Timeline

  • before 1300 – a part, side, division (Kyng Alisaunder).[3]
  • c. 1300 – a side in a contest, a litigant, a faction.[2][3]
  • early 14th century – any group of people.[2]
  • mid-15th century – a person.[2]
  • before 1639 – verb, to side with.[3]
  • 1640s – a detachment of troops.[2]
  • 1716 – a social gathering.[2][3]
  • 1773 – a group doing something together.[3]
  • 1922 – verb, to have a good time at parties.[3][2]
  • 1937 – the party is over.[2]
  • 1951 – party pooper (American).[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A social gathering for pleasure or celebration.
  2. A group of people taking part in an activity: a search party.
  3. An organized political group that seeks to win public office for its candidates.
  4. A person or group involved in a legal case or agreement: the parties to a contract.
  5. A person who takes part in something: a party to the plot.
  6. (informal) A person: the party in question.

Adjective

  1. Of a political party: party politics.

Verb

  1. To celebrate at parties.

Word family

  • partyless
  • biparty
  • counterparty
  • interparty
  • multiparty
  • nonparty
  • subparty
  • partyer
  • part
  • partisan
  • partition
  • depart

Usage notes

Party for “a particular individual” goes back to the 15th century and was once common.[9] Today it is standard mainly in legal use and is otherwise often humorous or condescending, person being the neutral word.[9][10]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
  6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin