parte

Forms

parte f (plural partes)^[1] Old Spanish texts also write the shortened part.^[2][3] As a masculine noun, el parte, it means a dispatch or official report.^[4][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pars (“part, share”), continuing its accusative; Old Spanish parte has the same form.^[5][6][1][7] The masculine noun, a courier's dispatch, is the same word;^[8][9] Covarrubias explains it as a postal term for the note that records when the couriers set out (parten).^[8][9]

The same Latin word is Portuguese parte, Galician parte, Catalan part, French part, Italian parte and Romanian parte.^[10][11][1]

The Latin noun goes back to *parti- (“part”).^[12][1] De Vaan reports Schrijver's view that it was formed before Latin on the present stem of pariō (“to bring forth”), with an original sense “lot, portion, fate”; it is probably of the same root as pār (“equal”) and portiō (“portion”).^[12][1] Wiktionary mentions *perh₂- (“to sell, exchange”) as a possible root.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The BDELC dates the word to about 950; the DTME's first Spanish record is of 1007.^[5][4] In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) it means “side, quarter”: „acógensele omnes de todas partes menguados” “needy men gather to him from every side”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose uses parte for a portion of a whole, a fixed quantity, a person's share (la quinta part “the fifth part”) and a place.^[13] Covarrubias in 1611 gives it as “place” (en cierta parte) and records no soy parte “I have no say in it”, dar parte “to inform”, and las partes as the parties to a lawsuit.^[8] The masculine parte, a courier sent by the king and the dispatch he carries, is in the Academy's dictionary of 1817; today el parte is any brief official report, such as a weather or medical bulletin.^[9][4][14] The Academy's 1884 edition has the sense “a stretch of time” (la mayor parte del día).^[15]

In 1855 Baralt condemned hacer a cada cual su parte as a French phrase.^[16] In Costa Rica, Colombia and Chile un parte is a traffic fine, and in Honduras and Bolivia partes are spare parts.^[17] In Argentina in 1910 parte was the printed wedding announcement sent by the families.^[18] In Judeo-Spanish tomar la parte del leon is “to take the lion's share”.^[19]

Timeline

• c. 950 – first record.^[5]
• 1007 – first record in a Spanish document according to the DTME.^[4]
• c. 1140 – de todas partes in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[3]
• c. 1140 – the derivative aparte.^[5]
• 1202 – la mi parte in the Cortes de Benavente.^[3]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses parte for a portion and for a place.^[13]
• 1509 – first record in the Americas, in Puerto Rico: de parte de v. m..^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records parte as a postal term.^[8]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the Latin pars.^[21]
• 1817 – the Academy enters the masculine parte “royal courier; dispatch”.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology “Del lat. pars, partis”.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A part, portion of a whole: Pasé parte del verano en el campo.^[6][1]
2. A specific amount or proportion of a compound.^[6]
3. A share, the portion that falls to someone in a distribution.^[6][1]
4. A place: Lo busqué por todas partes.^[6][1]
5. Each of the main divisions of a book or a musical work.^[6]
6. In some genres, a whole work linked to others, as in a trilogía.^[6]
7. Each of the armies, factions or sects that oppose one another.^[6]
8. Each of the persons who make a contract or share an interest in a business.^[6]
9. Each of the persons or groups that argue or negotiate.^[6]
10. The side someone takes in a dispute: Siempre se pone de parte de su hermano.^[6][1]
11. An actor's role.^[6]
12. (law) A party to a lawsuit.^[6][1]
13. (obsolete) A word.^[6]
14. (euphemistic, in the plural) The genitals.^[6]
15. (masculine) A dispatch, an official report: el parte meteorológico.^[4][1]
16. (masculine;^[17] Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile) A traffic ticket.^[17][1]

Word family

• aparte
• apartar
• autoparte

Related words

• partir
• repartir
• partícula
• parcial
• departamento
• Latin pars
• Portuguese parte
• Catalan part

Usage notes

La parte and el parte differ in gender and sense: dar parte “to report” and parte de guerra “war bulletin” belong to the masculine.^[4][14] Phrases include en parte “partly”, por otra parte “on the other hand”, de parte de “on behalf of” and formar parte de “to be part of”.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. parte
3. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. parte
4. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. parte
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. parte
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. parte
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 527
8. ^ a b c d Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1196
9. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 641
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6254
11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 4816
12. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. parte
14. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 540
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 793
16. ^ Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 496
17. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. parte
18. ^ Garzón, Tobías (1910), Diccionario argentino, Barcelona: Imprenta Elzeviriana de Borrás y Mestres, p. 356
19. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC, p. s.v. parte
20. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. parte
21. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 135