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It is no coincidence that the word resembles fracture: at the time, such a number was regarded as part of a whole that had conceptually been broken apart. It therefore had to be less than 1. Numbers greater than 1 were instead called broken numbers: a broken number was an integer with a fraction added to it. Thus, 1/3 was a fraction, whereas 5/3 was a broken number.
"Fraction" comes from the Late Latin fractio, itself derived from fractus, the past participle of the verb frangere, meaning "to break." In the 12th century, the word was used in religious language for the breaking of the consecrated host. It was also found in mathematics with the now-obsolete meaning of "division"—a sense that survives in fractionation—and to denote a section of an organization, as in the notorious German terrorist group the Red Army Faction.
Thirds, fourths, and beyond
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For a long time, "three fifths" meant three out of five, without any notion that a number—our 0.6—lay behind it.
