Affect
late Middle English (in the sense ‘attack as a disease’): from French affecter or Latin affect- ‘influenced, affected’, from the verb afficere (see affect2).
wiktionary
From Middle English affecten, from Latin affectāre, from Latin affectus, the participle stem of Latin afficere(“to act upon, influence, affect, attack with disease”), from ad- + facere(“to make, do”).
From Middle English affecten, from Anglo-Norman affecter(“strive after”), Middle French affecter(“feign”), and their source, Latin affectāre(“to strive after, aim to do, pursue, imitate with dissimulation, feign”), frequentative of afficere(“to act upon, influence”) (see Etymology 1, above).
From Middle English affect, from Latin affectus, adfectus(“a state of mind or body produced by some (external) influence, especially sympathy or love”), from afficere(“to act upon, influence”)
etymonline
affect (n.)
late 14c., "mental state," from Latin affectus "disposition, mood, state of mind or body produced by some external influence," noun use of adjective affectus "disposed, constituted, inclined," literally "furnished, supplied, endowed," past participle of afficere "to do; treat, use, manage, handle; act on, do something to; attack with disease; have influence on, apply force to," a verb used of many different actions, literally "to do to," from ad "to" (see ad-) + facere (past participle factus) "to make, do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). Perhaps obsolete outside of psychology, where it is a modern coinage, translating German Affekt. Related: Affects.
affect (v.1)
"to make a mental impression on," 1630s; earlier "to attack" (c. 1600), "act upon, infect" (early 15c.), from affect (n.) or from Latin affectus "disposition, mood, state of mind or body produced by some external influence." Related: Affected; affecting. "The two verbs, with their derivatives, run into each other, and cannot be completely separated" [Century Dictionary].
affect (v.2)
"to make a pretense of," 1660s, earlier "to assume the character of (someone)," 1590s; originally in English in a now-obsolete sense "aim at, aspire to, desire" (early 15c.), from Old French afecter (15c.), later affecter, from Latin affectare "to strive after, aim at, aspire to," frequentative of afficere (past participle affectus) "to do something to, act on, influence" (see affect (n.)). Related: Affected; affecting.
