portio

Latin

Etymology

Traditionally related to the same root as pars, parcus, and parcō. These terms stem from the Proto-Indo-European root *per- (“sell”), which also gave the Ancient Greek πόρνη (pórnē, “prostitute”), and πέρνημι (pérnēmi, “sell”).

De Vaan offers an alternative etymology where portiō would instead be a dissimilated and syncopated compound of prō +‎ ratiō: prō ratiōne > prōrtiōne > portiōne, an adverbial phrase from which the noun portiō would be back-formed.^[1] If this etymology is correct, portiō would be unrelated to pars.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpor.ti.oː/, [ˈpɔrt̪ioː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpor.t͡si.o/, [ˈpɔrt̪͡s̪io]

Noun

portiō f (genitive portiōnis); third declension

1. share, part, portion
   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita 6.35.4:

     Creātīque tribūnī C. Licinius et L. Sextius prōmulgāvēre lēgēs omnēs adversus opēs patriciōrum et prō commodīs plēbis: ūnam dē aere aliēnō, ut dēductō eō dē capite, quod ūsūrīs pernumerātum esset, id, quod superesset, trienniō aequīs portiōnibus persolverētur.

2. relation, proportion

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	portiō	portiōnēs
genitive	portiōnis	portiōnum
dative	portiōnī	portiōnibus
accusative	portiōnem	portiōnēs
ablative	portiōne	portiōnibus
vocative	portiō	portiōnēs

Derived terms

• portiōnālis
• portiuncula
• prōportiō

Related terms

• pars

Descendants

• Asturian: porción
• Catalan: porció
• Italian: porzione
• Galician: porción
• → Old French: porcion
  • Middle French: portion
    • French: portion
      • → Turkish: porsiyon
    • → Middle Dutch: porcie
      • Dutch: portie
        • → Indonesian: porsi
  • → Middle English: porcioun
    • English: portion
• Portuguese: porção
• Romanian: porție
• Russian: по́рция (pórcija)
• Spanish: porción

References

1. De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “pars”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 448

• “portio”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “portio”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• portio in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• portio in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “portion”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.