Etymologically
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attribuo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [atˈtrɪ.bu.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [atˈtriː.bu.o][1]

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

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