attraire

Forms

attraire^[1] Old French atraire and atreire.^[1][2] Anglo-Norman also wrote atrere, attrere and atreir.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French atraire, inherited from Latin attrahō (“to draw towards, attract”),^[2][4][5][1] formed from ad- (“to”) and trahō (“to pull”), the source of traire.^[2][6] Wiktionary puts a Vulgar Latin form between the Latin and the Old French verb.^[1]

Cognate with Occitan atraire, Spanish atraer and Italian attrarre.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) uses atraire of drawing people to a cause: pour homes atraire, “to win men over”.^[6][4][2]

Semantic evolution

In Old French the verb meant to draw or bring a person or a thing towards oneself, and figuratively to win over or charm;^[6][3] in the Roman de la Rose gold and silver draw people's hearts as the lodestone draws iron.^[6] Middle French used it for the magnet pulling iron and in medicine for drawing off humours.^[8] In law it meant to summon someone, as a witness in Beaumanoir (13th century).^[6]

The verb was already old-fashioned in the 17th century and gave way to attirer;^[4][9] it survives mainly in law, attraire en justice “to sue”, and in a few rare literary uses.^[9][10] Grevisse notes that it is hardly used except in the infinitive.^[9] Its derivatives attrait and attrayant have fared better than the verb.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Atraire appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[6][4][2]
• 1121–1125 – First recorded in Anglo-Norman.^[3]
• 13th century – Beaumanoir uses it of summoning witnesses.^[6]
• c. 1341 – Machaut writes that the magnet draws iron.^[8]
• 17th century – The verb is already dated.^[4]
• 1869 – Victor Hugo uses attrait en prison “put in prison” in L'Homme qui rit.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (rare, dated) To attract or lure with something pleasant.^[9][6]
2. (figurative) To charm, to exert an attraction on someone.^[9]
3. (law) Attraire en justice: to sue someone, to summon them before a court.^[9][10][1]

Word family

• attrayable
• attrayant

Related words

• attirer
• traire
• Latin attrahō

Usage notes

It is conjugated like traire and is rarely used outside the infinitive.^[9][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25, 740b
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 771
8. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)