Etymograph

English

distribute

Distribute comes from Latin distributus ‘divided, distributed’, from tribuō ‘to give, impart’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- ‘to be, become, grow, appear’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰuH-1‘to be, become, grow, appear’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tribʰú(H)s1uncertain
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*triðus1‘trinity, tripartite entity’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtribus1‘one of the three original tribes of Rome: Ramnes, Tities, Luceres’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtribuō2as tribuere‘to give, impart’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdistribuere2‘to divide, distribute’next step skipped: Latin distribuō
  7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdistributus2‘divided, distributed’past participle of distribuere
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1826distribute2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin tribuo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English distribute
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1826, Richard Whately: “A term is said to be distributed when it…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰuH-Wiktionary, Latin tribuo‘to be, become, grow, appear’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tribʰú(H)sWiktionary, Latin tribuouncertain
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*triðusWiktionary, Latin tribuo‘trinity, tripartite entity’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtribusWiktionary, Latin tribuo‘one of the three original tribes of Rome: Ramnes, Tities, Luceres’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtribuōWiktionary, English distributeas tribuere‘to give, impart’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdistribuereWiktionary, English distribute‘to divide, distribute’next step skipped: Latin distribuō
  7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdistributusWiktionary, English distribute‘divided, distributed’past participle of distribuere
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1826distributeWiktionary, English distribute. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1826, Richard Whately: “A term is said to be distributed when it…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- ‘to be, become, grow, appear’

be, been, power, possible, present, future, physical, build, improve, presence, essential, bond, bound, absence, bush, physician, entity, booth, approve, probability, absent, favorable, fiat, favourable, bouquet, bun, imp, bower, rebuke, impossibility, impotent, aren, beamer, bosque, phylogeny, physic, phylum, approbation, boor, busk, 80 more

through Latin tribus ‘one of the three original tribes of Rome:…’

tribe, tribal, tribunal, tribune, 5 more

through Latin tribuō ‘to give, impart’

contribution, contribute, contributor, retribution, attribution, 1 more

Today it means

verb To divide into portions and dispense.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “distribute”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin tribuo. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- / distribute

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