英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

attitudinal (adj.)[attitudinal 词源字典]: 1831, from Italian attitudine (see attitude) + -al (1).[attitudinal etymology, attitudinal origin, 英语词源]
attitudinize (v.): 1784, from attitudinal + -ize. Related: Attitudinized; attitudinizing.
atto-: word-forming element meaning "one quintillionth," 1962, from Danish atten "eighteen" (a quintillion is 10 to the 18th power), related to Old English eahtatene (see eighteen).
attorn (v.): late 13c., Anglo-French, "to turn over to another," from Old French atorner "to turn, turn to, assign, attribute, dispose," from a- "to" (see ad-) + tourner "to turn" (see turn (v.)). In feudal law, "to transfer homage or allegiance to another lord."
attorney (n.): early 14c. (mid-13c. in Anglo-Latin), from Old French atorné "(one) appointed," past participle of aturner "to decree, assign, appoint," from atorner (see attorn). The legal Latin form attornare influenced the spelling in Anglo-French. The sense is of "one appointed to represent another's interests."

In English law, a private attorney was one appointed to act for another in business or legal affairs (usually for pay); an attorney at law or public attorney was a qualified legal agent in the courts of Common Law who prepared the cases for a barrister, who pleaded them (the equivalent of a solicitor in Chancery). So much a term of contempt in England that it was abolished by the Judicature Act of 1873 and merged with solicitor.
Johnson observed that "he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney." [Boswell]
The double -t- is a mistaken 15c. attempt to restore a non-existent Latin original. Attorney general first recorded 1530s in sense of "legal officer of the state" (late 13c. in Anglo-French), from French, hence the odd plural (subject first, adjective second).
attract (v.): early 15c., from Latin attractus, past participle of attrahere "to draw, pull; to attract," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + trahere "draw" (see tract (n.1)).

Originally a medical term for the body's tendency to absorb fluids, nourishment, etc., or for a poultice treatment to "draw out" diseased matter (1560s). Of the ability of people or animals to draw others to them, it is attested from 1560s; of physical forces (magnetism, etc.), from c. 1600 (implied in attraction). Related: Attracted; attracting.
attraction (n.): late 14c., from French attraction, from Latin attractionem (nominative attractio) "a drawing together," noun of action from past participle stem of attrahere (see attract). Originally a medical word, "absorption by the body;" meaning "action of drawing to" is from 1540s (again medical); extended to magnetic, then figuratively to personal (c. 1600) qualities. Meaning "a thing which draws a crowd, interesting or amusing exhibition" is from 1829, a sense that developed in English and soon transferred to the French equivalent of the word.
attractive (adj.): late 14c., "absorptive," from Middle French attractif (14c.), from attract-, past participle stem of attrahere (see attract). Meaning "having the quality of drawing people's eye or interest" is from 1580s; sense of "pleasing, alluring" is from c. 1600. Related: Attractively; attractiveness.
attrahent (n.): "that which attracts," 1660s, from Latin attrahentem (nominative attrahens), present participle of attrahere (see attract).
attributable (adj.): 1660s, from attribute (v.) + -able.
attribute (v.): late 14c., "assign, bestow," from Latin attributus, past participle of attribuere "assign to, add, bestow;" figuratively "to attribute, ascribe, impute," from ad- "to" + tribuere "assign, give, bestow" (see tribute). Related: Attributed; attributing.
attribute (n.): "quality ascribed to someone," late 14c., from Latin attributum "anything attributed," noun use of neuter of attributus (see attribute (v.)). Distinguished from the verb by pronunciation.
attributes (n.): "qualities belonging to someone or something," c. 1600; see attribute (n.).
attribution (n.): late 15c., "action of bestowing or assigning," from Middle French attribution (14c.), from Latin attributionem (nominative attributio) "an assignment, attribution," noun of action from past participle stem of attribuere (see attribute). Meaning "thing attributed" is recorded from 1580s.
attributive (adj.): c. 1600, from French attributif, from stem of Latin attributus (see attribute (v.)). As a noun, in grammar, from 1750. Related: Attributively; attributiveness.
attrit (v.): 1956, U.S. Air Force back-formation from attrition which attained currency during the Vietnam War. (A 17c. attempt at a verb produced attrite). Related: Attrited; attriting.
attrite (adj.): "worn down," 1620s, from Latin attritus, past participle of atterere (see attrition).
attrition (n.): 1540s, "abrasion, a scraping," from Latin attritionem (nominative attritio), literally "a rubbing against," noun of action from past participle stem of atterere "to wear, rub away," figuratively "to destroy, waste," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + terere "to rub" (see throw (v.)). The earliest sense in English is from Scholastic theology (late 14c.), "sorrow for sin merely out of fear of punishment," a minor irritation, and thus less than contrition. The sense of "wearing down of military strength" is a World War I coinage (1914). Figurative use by 1930.
attune (v.): 1590s, from tune (v.), "probably suggested by ATONE" [OED]. Related: Attuned; attuning.
attunement (n.): "a bringing into harmony," 1820, from attune + -ment.