English
attitude
Attitude comes from French attitude, from Italian attitudine ‘aptitude, aptness’, from Late Latin aptitūdō conflated with actitūdō ‘posture’.
- Italianc. 1300–presentattitudine‘aptitude, flair’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentattitude
- Englishearliest quotation 1823attitude
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Italianc. 1300–presentattitudine‘aptitude, flair’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentattitude
- Englishearliest quotation 1823attitude
Earliest quotation: 1823, Felix M'Donogh, The Hermit Abroad: “[…] nymphs of quality, formed for the offices of…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- ‘to join, fit (in)’
through Latin aptus ‘suitable, fitting’
through Latin aptō ‘to fasten, fit, apply, adjust’
through Medieval Latin aptitūdō ‘aptitude’
Today it means
noun The position of the body or way of carrying oneself.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Italian attitudine / attitude