The spreading of something across many holders, and the pattern that spreading makes. Who gets what, and in what shape.
Latin distributio, from distribuere, dis- (apart) plus tribuere (to allot), from tribus (tribe); the allotting of shares among many.
Its root reaches back to a tribe's own share-out, the allotting each member was owed rather than a mechanical scatter. A distribution still answers the tribal question first: who gets what, and by what right.