Etymologically
Log in

partida

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Spanish word partida

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1194–1211 Liber Regum More words from the 12th century
Ultimate origin
Latin pars
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Spanish partir
Spanish partida
From the same root
Spanish partido ← partir

Pronunciation

  • /paɾˈtida/, [paɾˈt̪i.ð̞a][1]

Forms

partida f (plural partidas)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish partir + -ida: it is the feminine past participle of the verb used as a noun.[2][3][4] partir continues the deponent verb Latin partior (“to share, divide”), from pars (“part”);[4][5][1] Wiktionary gives the active form partiō.[4][5][1] Corominas explains the sense “to set out” of the verb as a special use of “to separate”.[4] Bénaben explains the sense “game, party” as an entertainment in which each takes a part, and the certificate as a part of an official record.[6]

De Vaan reports Schrijver's explanation of the Latin noun as a pre-Latin formation on the stem of pariō (“to bring forth”).[7] Wiktionary names Proto-Indo-European *perh₂- (“to sell, exchange”) as another possible root.[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first hit of the CDH is the Liber Regum (c. 1194–1211, in a copy of the first quarter of the 13th century), in the sense “part”: Iulius Cesar conqueria la maior partida de tod el mundo “Julius Caesar conquered the greater part of the whole world”.[8] Corominas dates the word 1220–1250.[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish partida meant a part or portion of a whole, a region or place, and a party to a lawsuit; all these senses occur in the prose of Alfonso X.[9] Nebrija still glosses it as Latin regio.[10] The sense “departure”, from partir “to set out”, is recorded by Percyvall in 1591, and Covarrubias in 1611 gives the entry of an account, someone's absence and a game.[11][12]

The Diccionario de Autoridades adds death, as the departure from this life, and a detachment of soldiers.[13] The Academy's editions record the entry in a parish register from 1817, a lot of merchandise, and the stakes and number of points of a game; in 1869 they add the guerrilla band and partida doble, double-entry bookkeeping.[14][15]

In Mexico and Central America a partida is a herd of cattle, and in New Mexico a flock of about a thousand sheep.[16][17][18] In the Canaries and Puerto Rico una partida de means “a lot of”.[19][20] In Argentina and Peru confesar la partida is “to own up”.[21][22] Judeo-Spanish also uses it for a trade or profession.[23]

Timeline

  • c. 1194–1211 – la maior partida de tod el mundo in the Liber Regum.[8]
  • 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes, the first hit without a later copy.[8]
  • 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for “part” and “place”.[9]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses it as Latin regio.[10]
  • 1515 – the first record from the Americas, a lot of goods in Puerto Rico.[24]
  • 1591 – Percyvall translates it “a departure”.[11]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias records the entry of an account and the game.[12]
  • 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives death and a party of soldiers.[13]
  • 1817 – the Academy's dictionary records the parish register entry.[14]
  • 1869 – the Academy adds the guerrilla band and partida doble.[15]

Meanings

Noun

  1. departure: the act of leaving a place: Retrasaron la partida del tren por la nieve.[25][1]
  2. An entry of a baptism, confirmation, marriage or burial in a parish or civil register, and a certified copy of it, a certificate.[25][1]
  3. Each item or amount of an account or budget.[25][3]
  4. A quantity of goods delivered or sent at one time, a lot: Ha llegado una partida de café de Colombia.[25][3]
  5. A small group of armed people: a party of soldiers on reconnaissance, or of civilians without a military command; a band.[25][3]
  6. A group of people of certain trades.[25]
  7. A game or round of a game, or a number of them agreed beforehand; the money staked on it: Jugamos una partida de dominó después de cenar.[25][1][3]
  8. A group of people out for some purpose, as in partida de caza “hunting party”.[25][3]
  9. death, the departure from this life.[25][13][1]
  10. (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras) A herd of cattle;[16][26] (Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Dominican Republic) a group of animals of the same breed.[16][26]

Word family

  • contrapartida

Usage notes

Partida is also the feminine of the participle and adjective partido.[27] Set phrases include punto de partida “starting point” and por partida doble “twice over”, named after double-entry bookkeeping.[1][28]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 527
  3. ^ a b c d e f Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. partida
  4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. parte
  5. ^ a b 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. partir
  6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. partida
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. partida
  9. ^ 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. partida
  10. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 393
  11. ^ a b Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 185
  12. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1196
  13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 140
  14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 642
  15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 577
  16. ^ 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. partida
  17. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 807
  18. ^ Cobos, Rubén (1983), A Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish, Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, p. 148
  19. ^ Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. partida
  20. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. partida
  21. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 625
  22. ^ Garzón, Tobías (1910), Diccionario argentino, Barcelona: Imprenta Elzeviriana de Borrás y Mestres, p. 357
  23. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC, p. s.v. partida
  24. ^ 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. partida
  25. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. partida
  26. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. partida
  27. ^ 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. partido
  28. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (2001), Diccionario breve de mexicanismos, México: Academia Mexicana / Fondo de Cultura Económica, p. 163
Cite this entry

“Partida.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/partida. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·