dispertio

Forms

dispertiō (present infinitive dispertīre, perfect active dispertīvī or dispertiī, supine dispertītum); fourth conjugation^[1] Many manuscripts spell it dispartiō.^[2][3] A deponent dispertior is also found.^[4][3] Plautus has the archaic passive infinitive dispertīrier.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- (“apart”) + partiō (“to divide, share”).^[4][1][3] partiō is formed from pars (“part”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *parti- (“part”); following Schrijver, he explains it as a formation on the stem of pariō (“to bring forth”), first meaning "lot, portion, fate".^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, who says it would have been fair for the gods to divide human life in the same way.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

It is to separate into lots or groups, divide up, distribute, of things, people and land, and of time and other abstract things: Cicero speaks of people who divide their time between pleasure and work.^[4][2] Lewis & Short call it classical.^[2] An inscription with the senate's decree on the cost of gladiatorial games, of 176/7 AD, spells it ⟨dispartio⟩.^[3] Church Latin glosses it distribute, separate, part, divide.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of the gods dividing human life.^[4][5][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of dividing time.^[4][7]
• 176/7 AD – an inscription spells it dispartio.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To divide up, separate into lots or groups.^[4][2][6][1]
2. To distribute; to assign.^[4][2][1]

Related words

• partiō
• pars

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes dīvidō and dirimō, which divide a whole merely to break its unity, from partior, which divides it in order to obtain the parts and dispose of them.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper