attribuo

Forms

attribuō (present infinitive attribuere, perfect active attribuī, supine attribūtum); third conjugation^[1] It is also spelled adtribuō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + tribuō (“to divide, bestow”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of tribus (“division of the people, tribe”), from Varro on; he reconstructs that noun as Proto-Italic *triþu- (“tripartite entity”), from Proto-Indo-European *tri-dʰh₁-u- (“tripartite division”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Varro, in a fragment quoted by Nonius, of land assigned man by man.^[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is a word of allotment and administration: to assign money from a fund, a task or charge, soldiers to a commander, an island to the jurisdiction of a state, or a debtor to a creditor.^[2][3] Cicero, Caesar and Livy use it in all these ways.^[2][3] Livy uses it of imposing a levy, as of the yearly sum charged to widows.^[2][6]

From assigning a thing to a person it came to mean ascribing a quality or saying to someone, and then referring an effect to its cause: Catullus says that everyone has been given his own failing.^[2] Christian writers use it of what God has given to man.^[7][8] English attribute, first recorded in the late 14th century in the sense “assign, bestow”, comes from its past participle.^[9]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of assigning land.^[2][4][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of adding something.^[2][5]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of a failing given to each person.^[2][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of ships assigned to centurions.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of imposing a levy.^[2][5]
• late 14th century – English attribute is formed from its past participle.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To assign, allot, apportion; to pay out (money); to add.^[2][3][1]
2. To assign (a thing) for a purpose; to entrust (a task); to impose (a levy).^[2][3]
3. To appoint (to a post or duty); to put under the command or jurisdiction of; to make over (a debtor).^[2][3]
4. To reckon as part of; to ascribe (a quality or saying).^[2][8]
5. To refer (an effect) to its cause, impute, attribute.^[2][8]

Word family

• attribūtiō
• attribūtor
• attributum
• attribūtrix

Related words

• tribuō
• English attribute

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 k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com