English
attach
Attach comes from Old French atachier ‘to attach’, from estachier ‘bind’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *stakô ‘pole, bar, stick, stake’.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*stakô‘pole, bar, stick, stake’reconstructed
- Frankishc. 250–700*stakkāreconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400estache‘stick’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400estachier‘bind’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400atachier‘to attach’variant of estachier
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500attachen
- Englishearliest quotation 1590attach
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*stakô‘pole, bar, stick, stake’reconstructed
- Frankishc. 250–700*stakkāreconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400estache‘stick’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400estachier‘bind’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400atachier‘to attach’variant of estachier
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500attachen
- Englishearliest quotation 1590attach
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto XII: “Eftsoones the Gard, which on his state did wait,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Germanic *stakô ‘pole, bar, stick, stake’
through Old French atachier ‘to attach’
Today it means
verb To fasten, to join to (literally and figuratively).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *stakô / attach