faction English · revision 39639

+ English has two words spelled ''faction'': the old word for a dissenting group, from Latin, and a 20th-century blend of ''fact'' and ''fiction''.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈfæk.ʃən/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|1|party, group}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1440, Promptorium Parvulorum|origins=la faciō}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The group is partly [[bor|frm|faction]] (also spelt [[m|frm|faccion]]), recorded in French from about 1355 for a seditious group or action,^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) and partly a direct borrowing of its source, [[la|factiō|t=a making or doing; a band, company, political party]].^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Klein 1966) The Latin noun is formed on [[m|la|factus]], the past participle of [[m|la|faciō|t=to do, make]], with the suffix [[-ion]];^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Klein 1966) the American Heritage Dictionary and Etymonline trace the verb to [[ine-pro|*dʰeh₁-|t=to set, put]].^(AHD 2024)^(Etymonline) The same Latin word, through Old French, gave [[fashion]], of which ''faction'' is a doublet.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Klein 1966)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The action or process of making something: 1440, in the ''Promptorium Parvulorum'', a sense now obsolete.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) A way of acting, a course of conduct, followed in 1447, in Osbern Bokenham's lives of saints.^(OED 2026) Etymonline dates the word to about 1500, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster to 1509 in the sense of a party.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The early senses "making" and "conduct" were shared with ''fashion'', and both had died out by the 18th and 19th centuries.^(OED 2026)^(Hoad 1986) The political sense, an organized dissenting group within a larger one, is recorded from 1509, in John Fisher's sermon for the Countess of Richmond,^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) and dissension or party strife in general from a1538, in Thomas Starkey.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) In ancient Rome, Etymonline notes, a ''factio'' was first one of the companies of contractors for the chariot races, each known by the colour of its drivers' dress;^(Etymonline) English has this historical sense from 1606, in Philemon Holland's Suetonius.^(OED 2026) Johnson (1755) gave "a party in a state" and "tumult; discord; dissension".^(Johnson 1755) From 1699 the word was used for a close-knit group of related families in the Scottish Highlands or in Ireland,^(OED 2026) and the English Dialect Dictionary records Irish ''factions'' as hostile associations of peasants, usually one family with its friends and relations.^(Wright 1898) In South Africa, from 1880, it meant any of several rival rural groups whose feuds broke out in periodic violence.^(OED 2026) At Aberdeen Grammar School a ''faction'' was a division of a class, or the bench it sat on, from 1700.^(OED 2026)^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1440 – the action of making something (obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1447 – a course of conduct (obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1509 – an organized dissenting group, especially in politics.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+ * a1538 – dissension, party strife.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1606 – (Roman history) a company of chariot-race contractors.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1609 – verb, to act factiously, to intrigue.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1699 – a clan or close-knit family group, in Scotland or Ireland.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1700 – (Scotland) a division of a school class.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1880 – (South Africa) a rival rural group.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small, organized group within a larger body, such as a [[political party]], that disagrees with the rest or pursues its own ends.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # [[dissension|alt=Dissension]] or quarrelling within a group; party spirit.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (Roman history) One of the companies that supplied the chariots and drivers for the races of the [[circus]].^(OED 2026)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # (rare or obsolete) To form factions; to split into factions.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[factional]]

+ * [[factionalism]]

+ * [[factious]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|fact and fiction}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=blend|attested=1967, H. Atkinson, Games (publisher's note)|origins=en fact, en fiction}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The genre is a [[blend]]: [[af|en|fact|fiction]].^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)^(AHD 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Fiction built on real events or characters: 1967, in the publisher's note to H. Atkinson's ''Games''.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1967 – documentary fiction or drama.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[literary]] or film [[genre]] that tells a story based on real people or events, using the methods of [[fiction]]; a work of this kind.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[-faction]]

+ * [[fact]]

+ * [[factor]]

+ * [[factory]]

+ * [[fashion]]

+ * [[fiction]]

+ * [[faculty]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}