fractio

Latin

Etymology

From frangō (“to break”) +‎ -tiō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈfraːk.ti.oː/, [ˈfräːkt̪ioː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfrak.t͡si.o/, [ˈfräkt̪͡s̪io]

Noun

frāctiō f (genitive frāctiōnis); third declension

1. the action of breaking
2. (mathematics) fraction
   • 1544, Orontius Finaeus, Arithmetica Practica, liber II, cap. 7 [1]

     Divisio, quemadmodum et multiplicatio, aut inter ipsas tantum accidit fractiones, aut simul cum ipsis tractatur integris.

     Division, just as with multiplication, occurs either only between those fractions, or is transacted at the same time with those integers.

   • 1750, Institutiones Matheseos: Selectis Observationibus Illustratae in Usum Praelectionum Academicarum, 4th edition, page 56:

     Scribitur fractio duobus numeris, linea interiecta distinctis, quorum superior ipsam partem integri determinat, et numerator dicitur, inferior partes totius omnes refert, et denominator appellatur.

     A fraction is written with two numbers separated by a line between them, of which the portion above determines the pieces, and is called the numerator, and the portion below refers to the entire total, and is called the denominator.

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	frāctiō	frāctiōnēs
Genitive	frāctiōnis	frāctiōnum
Dative	frāctiōnī	frāctiōnibus
Accusative	frāctiōnem	frāctiōnēs
Ablative	frāctiōne	frāctiōnibus
Vocative	frāctiō	frāctiōnēs

Descendants

• → Catalan: fracció
• → German: Fraktion
• → English: fraction
• → Dutch: fractie
• → French: fraction
• → Italian: frazione
• → Russian: фракция (frakcija)
• → Portuguese: fração
• → Romanian: fracție
• → Spanish: fracción

References

• “fractio”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• fractio 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)
• fractio in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.