participate v.

"act or fact of sharing or partaking in common with another or others; act or state of receiving or having a part of something," late 14c., participacioun, from Old French participacion (13c.) and directly from Late Latin participationem (nominative participatio) "partaking," noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin participare "participate in, share in, partake of; to make partaker, to share, impart," from particeps (genitive participis) "partaker, comrade, fellow soldier," also, as an adjective, "sharing, partaking," from pars (genitive partis) "a part, piece, a division" (from PIE root *pere- (2) "to grant, allot") + -cip-, weak form of stem of capere "to take," from PIE root *kap- "to grasp." Related: Participational "involving or requiring participation" (1952).

*perə-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to grant, allot" (and reciprocally, "to get in return"); possibly related to *pere- (1) "to produce, procure."

It forms all or part of: apart; apartment; bipartient; bipartisan; bipartite; compartment; depart; department; ex parte; impart; jeopardy; multipartite; parcel; parse; part; partial; participate; participation; particle; particular; particulate; partisan; partition; partitive; partner; party; portion; proportion; quadripartite; repartee; tripartite.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit purtam "reward;" Hittite parshiya- "fraction, part;" Greek peprotai "it has been granted;" Latin partem (nominative pars) "a part, piece," portio "share, portion."