Etymologically
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attractio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [atˈtrak.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [atˈtrak.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

attractiō f (genitive attractiōnis); third declension[1] It is also spelled adtractiō.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin attrahō (“to draw towards”) + -tiō, a noun of action made on the past participle stem.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short and Georges cite Varro for it, of one letter drawing another to itself, but the TLL notes that the manuscripts of that passage read other words.[4][5][2] Its first certain author is Palladius, who uses it of the wrinkling of a surface.[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Late medical writers use it of drawing in: Caelius Aurelianus of the act of drawing something in, and Vindicianus for the contraction of the sinews and muscles.[2][6] The TLL notes that the ancient grammarians did not use it.[2]

Medieval Latin made it a word of natural philosophy and medicine: Albertus Magnus uses it of a muscle drawing the lip and of a female spider drawing in the male,[7] and it also meant the power of attraction, stretching, crushing and acquisition.[7][8] In British sources it is also an enticement and an appropriation.[9] Conte gives it as the source of Italian attrazione, and English attraction, first recorded about 1400 as a medical term for drawing diseased matter to the surface, comes from it directly and through Old French.[6][3]

Timeline

  • end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century AD – Palladius uses it of wrinkling.[2][5][8]
  • 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it of drawing something in.[2][6][8]
  • 13th century – Albertus Magnus uses it of attraction in living things.[7][8]
  • c. 1400 – English attraction is taken from it.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A drawing in or towards oneself.[2][6][1]
  2. A drawing together, contraction (of wrinkles, sinews).[4][2][5]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Attraction, the power of drawing something in.[7][9]
  4. (Medieval Latin) An enticement; an appropriation.[9][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  9. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press