partisan English · revision 39518

+ English has two homographs spelled ''partisan'': a supporter of a party or cause, and a long-bladed spear; both go back to the Italian word for a member of a faction.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈpɑː.tɪˌzæn/, /ˌpɑː.tɪˈzæn/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈpɑɹ.tɪ.zən/, /ˈpɑɹ.tə.zən/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|1|supporter}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1555, Richard Eden's translation of Peter Martyr|origins=la pars}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The supporter is [[bor|frm|partisan]],^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) recorded in French from the late 15th century,^(OED 2026) adapted from a northern Italian dialect form, [[m|it|partezan]] or [[m|it|partisano]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Dictionary.com 2016)^(SOED 2002) corresponding to standard [[it|partigiano|t=member of a faction, partner]], which is found from 1312 for a defender of a party.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) That word is built on [[m|it|parte|t=part, party]], from [[la|pars|t=part, share; faction]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Klein 1966) with the suffix [[m|it|-igiano]], found in ethnic names such as [[m|it|parmigiano]] and in [[m|it|artigiano]] and [[m|it|cortigiana]], the sources of [[artisan]] and [[courtesan]].^(OED 2026)^(Klein 1966)^(Barnhart 1988) Etymonline traces the Latin noun to [[ine-pro|*perh₃-|t=to grant, allot]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ An adherent or supporter of a party, cause or person, especially a zealous one: 1555, in Richard Eden's translation of Peter Martyr's ''Decades'';^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) in early use often a supporter kept as a bodyguard.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Etymonline notes that from the start the word often implied judgment clouded by loyalty to a party.^(Etymonline) In military use, from 1692, a partisan was a member of a small band of light or irregular troops acting on its own,^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) later (1706) also the commander of such a band;^(OED 2026) French had the sense of a combatant in a small unit from 1678.^(OED 2026) Etymonline links the shift to "guerrilla fighter" to the Peninsular War,^(Etymonline) and Barnhart notes that the name became popular in the Second World War for the resistance groups of eastern Europe and the Balkans,^(Barnhart 1988) partly after the Serbian and Russian forms of the word.^(OED 2026) The adjective was military at first (1708), describing irregular warfare;^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) its political sense, one-sided or blindly devoted to a party, is dated 1805 in the OED and 1842 in Etymonline and Barnhart.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Johnson (1755) defined the noun as "an adherent to a faction".^(Johnson 1755)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1555 – an adherent of a party or cause.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1692 – a member of an irregular military band.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1706 – the leader of such a band.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1708 – adjective, of irregular warfare.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1805 – adjective, one-sided, prejudiced;^(OED 2026) 1842 in Etymonline and Barnhart.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1917 – a resistance fighter, especially in eastern Europe.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A strong, often uncritical [[supporter]] of a party, cause or person.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # A member of an armed [[resistance]] group fighting an occupying force, especially in Italy or the Balkans in the Second World War; a [[guerrilla]].^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Strongly or blindly devoted to one party or faction; one-sided: ''The debate turned bitterly partisan.''^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # Relating to or carried on by military partisans.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[partisanship]]

+ * [[bipartisan]]

+ * [[nonpartisan]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|spear}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1542, an inventory of Whitehall|origins=la pars}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The spear is [[bor|frm|partizane]],^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024) first recorded in French in 1466,^(OED 2026) from [[it|partigiana]], in northern regional use [[m|it|partesana]],^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024) the feminine of [[m|it|partigiano|t=partisan, member of a faction]],^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)^(Klein 1966) probably by shortening of a phrase with [[m|it|arma|t=weapon]],^(AHD 2024)^(Dictionary.com 2016)^(SOED 2002) apparently because it was seen as the typical weapon of such fighters in 15th-century Italy.^(OED 2026) In French the word was later altered to [[m|fr|pertuisane]] by association with [[fro|pertuis|t=hole]].^(OED 2026)^(Klein 1966)^(SOED 2002) Weekley instead thought it probably connected with [[goh|parta|t=halberd]].^(Weekley 1921)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A spear with a long, triangular, double-edged blade and projections at its base, used by foot soldiers in the 16th and 17th centuries: 1542, in an inventory of Whitehall.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From 1611 the weapon was also carried ceremonially by civic and other guards,^(OED 2026) while between 1649 and 1820 ''partisan'' could mean a soldier or guard armed with one.^(OED 2026) Shakespeare used it in ''Hamlet'', and Johnson (1755) defined it as "a kind of pike or halberd".^(Johnson 1755) According to Weekley the word fell out of use about 1700 and was revived by Walter Scott in ''The Lay of the Last Minstrel''.^(Weekley 1921)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1542 – a long-bladed spear.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1611 – such a spear carried ceremonially by guards.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1649 – a soldier armed with a partisan (until 1820).^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # (historical) A long-handled infantry [[spear]] of the 16th and 17th centuries, with a broad, double-edged blade and side projections, resembling a [[halberd]].^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)^(OED 2026)

+ # Such a weapon carried ceremonially by guards.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[part]]

+ * [[partisanism]]

+ * [[party]]

+ * [[artisan]]

+ * [[courtesan]]

+ * [[guerrilla]]

+ * [[pike]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In British English the stress often falls on the last syllable, and in American English on the first.^(MWU 2024)^(Roach et al. 2011) The spelling ''partizan'' is also used.^(Collins 2023)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}