From Latin 'attrahere' (to draw toward), via Old French, combining 'ad-' (toward) and 'trahere' (to pull, draw) — a word that started physical and became emotional, then gravitational.
The action or power of evoking interest, pleasure, or liking; a force drawing one thing toward another
From Old French 'attraction,' borrowed from Latin 'attractiōnem' (nominative 'attractiō'), meaning 'a drawing together.' The Latin noun derives from 'attractus,' the past participle of 'attrahere,' meaning 'to draw toward, to pull to oneself.' This verb combines 'ad-' (toward) and 'trahere' (to draw, to pull, to drag). The Latin 'trahere' is the source of an
When Newton used 'attraction' to describe gravity in the Principia (1687), critics attacked the term as implying an occult or magical force. Leibniz and other Continental philosophers accused Newton of reintroducing 'action at a distance' — the idea that objects could pull each other without touching — which smacked of medieval mysticism to the rationalists of the Enlightenment.