Etymologically
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partner

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈpart.ner/[1]

Forms

partner m or f by sense (invariable)[1] In Italian the word is used for both sexes and is usually invariable, though the English plural partners is also found.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English partner, recorded in Italian from 1862.[5][6][7][1] The English word is an altered form of Middle English parcener (“joint heir, sharer”), reshaped after part, which goes back to Old French parçonier.[5][6][8] Gabrielli traces the Old French noun to Medieval Latin partionarius (“participant, sharer”), and all the dictionaries derive it in the end from Latin pars (“part, share”).[9][5][10]

DEI notes that the English word also passed into French partenaire and, unchanged, into French by 1767, and into German Partner.[8] The Latin noun is the source of Italian parte.[6][11] De Vaan follows Schrijver in deriving it from Proto-Italic *parti-, a formation on the verb stem seen in pariō (“to bring forth”), first meaning “lot, portion”.[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is from 1862, in a text by Ferdinando Petruccelli della Gattina, for one of a pair in the theatre, in sport or in dancing.[5][10] In 1931 Panzini's dictionary of new words still glossed it as “companion”, the one who makes a pair in a game, a job or an outing, and observed that “elegant people say partner”.[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The word first named a partner in a performance, a game or a dance, and this is still its first sense.[5][7] Montale wrote of an actress who stood a span taller than her partners.[4] From the 1970s it also names either member of a couple in a love or sexual relationship, especially an unmarried one: DELI dates this sense to 1973.[5][3]

In business and politics it means a partner in a firm, and by extension a state, party or organisation allied to another, often placed after a noun as an adjective (uno stato partner).[7][3][2] Nocentini records the English-derived noun partnership from 1953.[6] The set phrases sleeping partner and sparring partner are used in their English form.[7]

Timeline

  • 1767 – Partner is recorded in French.[8]
  • 1862 – Petruccelli della Gattina uses partner in Italian.[5][7]
  • 1931 – Panzini notes that elegant people say partner.[5]
  • 1953 – Partnership is recorded.[6]
  • 1973 – Partner is recorded for a member of an unmarried couple.[5][2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. One of the two people forming a pair in a game, a sport, a show, a dance or any activity done in twos: In finale ha giocato con un nuovo partner.[7][13][10]
  2. Either person in a couple bound by a love or sexual relationship: Alla cena erano invitati anche i partner dei colleghi.[7][13][3]
  3. A business partner or associate in a firm or in some work: È diventato partner dello studio legale.[7][13][3]
  4. (politics, economics) A state, party or organisation allied to another; also after a noun as an adjective: i partner commerciali dell'Italia.[7][3][9]

Word family

  • partnership

Usage notes

Italian speakers usually say /ˈpartner/, with the r pronounced, rather than the English /ˈpɑːtnə(r)/.[13][2][1] The word takes the article of the person's sex: il partner, la partner.[1][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  4. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2786
  9. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  10. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  12. ^ 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 c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier