Etymograph

English

attribution

Attribution comes from Latin attributio ‘predicate, attribute’, from attribuō ‘to associate’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- ‘to be, become, grow, appear’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰuH-1‘to be, become, grow, appear’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tribʰú(H)s1uncertain
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*triðus1‘trinity, tripartite entity’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtribus1‘one of the three original tribes of Rome: Ramnes, Tities, Luceres’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtribuō1‘to grant or bestow’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEattribuō2‘to associate’
  7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEattributio3‘predicate, attribute’
  8. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600attribution3
  9. Englishtodayattribution3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin attribuo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin attributio
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English attribution

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰuH-Wiktionary, Latin attribuo‘to be, become, grow, appear’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tribʰú(H)sWiktionary, Latin attribuouncertain
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*triðusWiktionary, Latin attribuo‘trinity, tripartite entity’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtribusWiktionary, Latin attribuo‘one of the three original tribes of Rome: Ramnes, Tities, Luceres’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtribuōWiktionary, Latin attribuo‘to grant or bestow’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEattribuōWiktionary, Latin attributio‘to associate’
  7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEattributioWiktionary, English attribution‘predicate, attribute’
  8. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600attributionWiktionary, English attribution
  9. EnglishtodayattributionWiktionary, English attribution

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- ‘to be, become, grow, appear’

be, been, power, possible, present, future, physical, build, improve, presence, essential, bound, bond, absence, bush, physician, booth, approve, probability, absent, entity, favorable, favourable, fiat, bouquet, bun, imp, impotent, bower, rebuke, impossibility, aren, beamer, bosque, phylogeny, physic, phylum, boor, bist, busk, 80 more

through Latin tribus ‘one of the three original tribes of Rome:…’

distribution, tribe, tribal, tribute, tribunal, tribune, 3 more

through Latin tribuō ‘to grant or bestow’

contribute, contribution, distribute, contributor, retribution, 1 more

Today it means

noun The act of attributing something.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “attribution”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin attribuo, Latin attributio. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- / attribution

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