partir

Forms

partir (first-person singular present parto, first-person singular preterite partí, past participle partido)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin partīrī (“to share out, divide”), also active partīre.^[2][3][1][4] The sense “to set out, leave” is a special application of “to separate”.^[2][5][6]

The same word is Portuguese partir, Galician partir, Asturian partir, Catalan partir, Occitan partir, French partir and Italian partire.^[7][1] Meyer-Lübke gives the Latin verb the senses “to divide”, “to separate” and “to leave”.^[7]

The Latin verb is derived from pars (“part, piece”), and is attested from Livius Andronicus on.^[3][8] De Vaan reports Schrijver's view that the noun itself was formed before Latin on the present stem of pariō (“to bring forth”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) uses it mostly in the reflexive for “to leave”: „partiós' de la puerta, por Burgos aguijava” “he left the door and spurred through Burgos”.^[9][10] The Cid also has “to share out, distribute”, “to separate” (the mountains that divide one land from another) and “to bring to an end”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish used it for dividing and splitting, for sharing out among several people and for distinguishing one thing from another.^[11] In the Liber Regum (c. 1194–1211) Julian the Apostate „partiese de la fe” “departed from the faith”.^[9] Covarrubias in 1611 defined it as “to divide, and sometimes to move from one place to another”.^[12] Autoridades listed dividing, breaking (partir la cabeza), sharing out and cracking the stones or hard shells of fruit.^[13] The Academy's 1884 edition also has the beekeepers' sense of dividing a hive.^[14]

Derivatives followed early: partición (c. 1140), partida (1220–1250), partido (1495) and the compounds departir (c. 1140) and repartir (1490).^[2] Today the verb also means “to start from” something (a partir de “from”), and colloquially to devastate someone.^[3][1] In Colombia and Bolivia it is popular for failing a student, in Guatemala for hurting someone, and in Cuba for killing.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses partirse for “to leave”.^[9][2]
• c. 1194–1211 – the Liber Regum has partirse de la fe.^[9]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for splitting stones into thin leaves.^[11]
• 1516 – the first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme.^[16]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as “to divide”.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy adds the beekeepers' sense.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To divide something into two or more parts: Partió el pastel en ocho trozos.^[3][1]
2. To split, cleave: partir leña.^[3][13]
3. To share out among several people.^[3]
4. To crack nuts or the stones of fruit to get the kernel.^[3]
5. To separate or mark off one thing from another.^[3]
6. To divide into classes.^[3]
7. (beekeeping) To split a hive in two.^[3]
8. (mathematics) To divide one number by another.^[3]
9. (obsolete) To finish, conclude.^[3]
10. (intransitive) To start from something as a base: Partimos de una idea sencilla.^[3]
11. (intransitive) Of someone who was undecided: to make up one's mind.^[3]
12. (intransitive, also reflexive) To set out, depart, leave.^[3][1]
13. (colloquial) To devastate, disconcert someone.^[3]
14. (reflexive) To split into factions.^[3]

Word family

• parteaguas
• partida
• partido
• partición
• repartir
• departir
• compartir

Related words

• partidor
• parte
• Latin pars

Usage notes

A partir de means “from” (a point in time or a starting point).^[3] Partirse de risa is “to split one's sides laughing”.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. parte
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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
4. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4821
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 527
6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. partir
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ 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
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. s.v. partir
11. ^ 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. partir
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. 1, 1196
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 142
14. ^ 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. 794
15. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. partir
16. ^ 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. partir