Etymologically
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partito

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Pronunciation

  • /parˈti.to/[1]

Forms

partito m (plural partiti)[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian partire + -ito: the past participle of the verb in its first sense “to divide”, used as an adjective and then as a noun.[2][3][4][1] Treccani explains the noun as properly “what is divided, a part”.[5] GRADIT numbers the verb it comes from as the second of its homographs, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti as the first, but all mean the verb “to divide”, which is inherited from Latin partīre (“to divide, share”), from pars (“part”).[6][7][8][1]

The same noun is French parti, Spanish partido and Portuguese partido “party”.[9][10] DEI compares the political sense of the French word, recorded from the 14th century and political from the 16th, which it sees as the source of English “party”.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are of the sense “decision, course of action”, which GRADIT dates to the first half of the 13th century.[6][11] DELI's first example is in Guidotto da Bologna, who writes of Hannibal's choices that each of these courses was very bad to take (Catuno de' detti partiti è molto reo a pigliare).[2][12] The adjective “divided” is recorded in Restoro d'Arezzo in 1282.[2]

Semantic evolution

From the choice to be made, Old Italian moved to the condition someone is in (Domenico Cavalca, before 1342), still heard in essere a mal partito, and to an expedient or resource (Luigi Pulci, before 1484).[2][8] Old Italian also used the word for an agreement or terms, for a game, and in Florence for a vote of a council, recorded in the libro dei partiti.[10][6][13]

The political sense, a group of people united to win and use power, is first recorded in Marchionne Stefani, before 1385, and DEI dates the sense “faction” to the 16th century.[2][10] In 1513 Giovanni Filoteo Achillini uses partito for an offer or chance of marriage, the sense of un buon partito, a good match.[2] The 16th century also had femmina di partito, a prostitute.[10] In Siena the word was used for a secret agreement between two contrade.[10]

The adjective became a term of heraldry, for a shield divided vertically into two equal halves (Carducci, 1891), and of botany, for a deeply divided leaf.[2][7][5] Colloquially a person who is partito is drunk, infatuated or out of their mind.[7][8] German borrowed the noun as partida in 1557.[11]

Timeline

  • First half of the 13th century – Partito “decision” in Guidotto da Bologna.[6][2]
  • 1282 – The adjective “divided” in Restoro d'Arezzo.[2]
  • Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it for a condition or state.[2]
  • Before 1385 – Marchionne Stefani uses it for a political party.[2]
  • Before 1484 – Luigi Pulci uses it for an expedient.[2]
  • 1513 – Giovanni Filoteo Achillini uses it for a marriage offer.[2]
  • 1557 – German partida is recorded.[11]
  • 1891 – Carducci uses the heraldic adjective.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A political party, an organized association of citizens who share an ideology or programme: Si è iscritto a un partito a vent'anni.[6][7][8]
  2. A group of supporters of an idea or cause; a faction: Allora la città era divisa in due partiti.[6][7][8]
  3. A decision or course of action chosen to deal with a difficulty: non sapere che partito prendere.[6][13][5]
  4. A person regarded as a match for marriage: un buon partito.[2][1]
  5. A condition or situation, now only in a mal partito, in a bad way.[8][2]

Adjective

  1. (literary) Divided; split into factions.[13][7]
  2. (heraldry) party per pale, divided vertically into two equal parts.[13][1]
  3. (botany) Of a leaf, divided more than halfway to the midrib or the base.[7][5]
  4. (colloquial) Gone, past all reason, from drink or love: Dopo tre bicchieri era già partito.[7][8]

Word family

  • partitico
  • partitismo
  • partitocrazia
  • antipartito
  • partitino

Usage notes

Partito is also the past participle of partire “to leave” (sono partito ieri).[6][7] Set phrases include per partito preso (out of prejudice), prendere partito (to take sides or decide), mettere la testa a partito (to settle down, come to one's senses) and trarre partito da (to take advantage of).[13][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2786
  11. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  13. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli