Etymologically
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parte

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Pronunciation

Forms

parte f (plural parti)[1] An old plural is parte, and an old invariable form pari is also found.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pars (“part, share”), from the accusative ⟨partem⟩.[4][5][6][1] The word is panromance: French part, Occitan part, Catalan part, Spanish parte, Portuguese parte, Sardinian parte and Romanian parte; it was also borrowed into Irish part.[5][7][8]

The Latin noun continues Proto-Italic *parti-.[9] DELI and Sabatini–Coletti relate it to Latin pariō (“to give birth to, produce”), and Nocentini explains it as an abstract noun meaning “assignment”, from the verb in the sense “to procure”.[4][10][5] De Vaan cites Schrijver's view that it was formed on the present stem of that verb, with an original meaning “lot, portion”, which later separated it from the verb.[9] Devoto supposes an older ⟨*pors⟩, influenced by pāreō and parō.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Placito di Capua of 960: “trenta anni le possette parte sancti Benedicti”.[4][6] Following Cilento and Sabatini, DELI explains parte there as the holder of goods and rights, here the monastery of Saint Benedict as a property owner, rather than a party in the lawsuit.[4] The basic sense, each unit into which a whole is divided, appears at the end of the 12th century in the rent book of the abbey of Coltibuono.[4]

Semantic evolution

Brunetto Latini (before 1294) uses parte for a limited quantity, the Novellino (end of the 13th century) for a task or role, and Dante for a region, a side, a direction and a faction.[4] The sense “faction” gave partigiano, a supporter of a party, which passed into French as partisan in the 15th century and travelled through German and Polish into Russian, where it came to mean an irregular fighter in 1812;[4][12] Italian took that sense back during the Second World War.[4][12] The weapon partigiana (1451) became French pertuisane.[4][12]

In the theatre parte is an actor's role from Castelvetro (before 1571), and in music a single voice or instrumental line of a composition from 1562;[4][13] French and German took this musical sense in the 18th century.[4][13] Old Italian also had an adverb parte, “partly” and “meanwhile”, as in Dante's “Parte sen gìa” (meanwhile he went on).[14]

Timeline

  • 960 – The Placito di Capua uses parte for the holder of goods and rights.[4]
  • End of the 12th century – The rent book of the abbey of Coltibuono uses it for a part of a whole.[4]
  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for a limited quantity.[4]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses it for a region, a side and a faction.[4]
  • 1451 – Partigiana, a polearm, is recorded.[4]
  • 1562 – Parte is used for a voice in a polyphonic composition.[13]
  • Before 1571 – Lodovico Castelvetro uses it for an actor's role.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. part, each of the pieces into which a whole is or can be divided: ha tagliato la pizza in otto parti.[6][15][10]
  2. A component, element: le parti del motore.[10][15][16]
  3. A portion or share of a quantity: una parte dello stipendio va in affitto.[6][10][17]
  4. (chiefly plural) A region, area: non vengo spesso da queste parti.[6][1]
  5. A side or direction: dall'altra parte del lago.[6][3]
  6. A faction, party; in law, each side in a dispute or contract: le parti hanno firmato l'accordo.[16][3][10]
  7. An actor's role; also a voice in a piece of music: impara la parte a memoria.[6][15][4]
  8. (figurative) A task, duty: ho fatto la mia parte.[4][3]

Word family

  • particella
  • particola
  • partigiano
  • partigiana
  • parteggiare
  • appartare
  • disparte
  • controparte
  • partaccia

Usage notes

Common phrases include a parte (separately, apart from), da parte (aside), in parte (partly), da parte di (on behalf of, from), fare parte di (to belong to), prendere parte a (to take part in) and d'altra parte (on the other hand).[3][17][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  3. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2783
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 318
  12. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  13. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  15. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  17. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli