English → Latin
“attribute” in Latin
tribuōto grant, bestow, assign, attribute; to yield, give up, concede, allow; to divide, share, distributeattribuōto associate; to add or join to; to annextrānsferōto bear, carry or bring across or over; transport, transfer, convey over; to copy, transcribe, transfer; to carry along proprietāsquality, property, peculiarity, character; the legal position of an owner particularly if his property is encumbered witpropriusappropriate to oneself: (one's) proper, (one's) own (inalienably); belonging to oneself as property, or goods: (one's) onātūrathe nature, quality, substance or essence of a thing; character, temperament, inclination, disposition; nature, the naturatiōreason, reasoning, explanation, ground, motive, rationality, rationale, purpose; calculation, account, accounting, reckovolōto wish, to please; to want; to mean, to intendquālitāsquality, propertydeusgod, deity; the ancient Roman “Dī Penātēs,” personal or family gods of hearth and home, embodied as small statues or ico
The English word attribute itself goes back to Latin attribūtus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
attribute v.
ascribere alicui allquid (ascribe anything, whether good or bad, to any body as its author, inventor, or cause): assignare alicui aliquid (refer anything to anybody as the person from whom it proceeds; to impute it in blame, or give the merit of it): addicere alicui aliquid (to declare anybody the author of a composition, Gell., 3, 3): tribuere or attribuere alicui aliquid (to attribute anything to anybody as its cause, whether guilty cause or not). To attribute the invention of anything to anybody, aliquid alicui inventori ascribere: the blame to anybody, alicui culpam tribuere or attribuere; culpam in aliquem conferre (throw it on him): culpam in aliquem vertere or transferre (from one’s self): to attribute anything to fear, aliquid timori assignare: ill success to anybody, alicui casum adversum tribuere; alicui incommodum ascribere: anything to one’s self alone, aliquid sibi soli ascribere: you hare attributed this to me, haec tibi a me eveniunt.
attribute s.
proprietas: proprium (the peculiar nature of anything): natura (nature): ratio: vis (the efficacy it possesses; its constitution): qualitas (peculiar constitution: coined by Cic. as a translation of παιότης). The divine attributes, dei (or deorum) natura.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for attribute?
- The usual Latin words for “attribute” are tribuō, attribuō, trānsferō; also proprietās, proprius, nātūra. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.