Appeal
Middle English (in legal contexts): from Old French apel (noun), apeler (verb), from Latin appellare ‘to address’, based on ad- ‘to’ + pellere ‘to drive’.
wiktionary
From Middle English apel, appel(“formal accusation brought in court; a challenge to trial by combat; an appeal to a higher court or authority; plea (for mercy, protection, etc.); pealing (of bells)”)[and other forms], [1] from Old French apel(“a call”) (modern French appel(“a call; an appeal”)), from apeler(“to call; to call out”), [2] from Latin appellāre, adpellāre, respectively the present active infinitives of appellō(“to address as, call by name; to drive, move to; to land or put ashore”) and adpellō(“to drive, move to; to land or put ashore”), from ad-( prefix meaning ‘to; towards’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd(“at; to”)) + pellō(“to drive, impel, push; to hurl, propel; to banish, expel; to eject, thrust out”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂-(“to approach”), from *pel-(“to beat; to drive; to push”)). Doublet of appel.
From Middle English apelen, appelen(“to accuse; to make a formal charge before a court, etc., impeach; to challenge to trial by combat; to apply to a higher court or authority for review of a decision; to call upon for a decision, favour, help, etc.; to call by a name”)[and other forms], [3] from Old French apeler(“to call; to call out”); [4] see further at etymology 1.
etymonline
appeal (v.)
early 14c., originally in legal sense of "to call" to a higher judge or court, from Anglo-French apeler "to call upon, accuse," Old French apeler "make an appeal" (11c., Modern French appeler), from Latin appellare "to accost, address, appeal to, summon, name," iterative of appellere "to prepare," from ad "to" (see ad-) + pellere "to beat, push, drive" (from PIE root *pel- (5) "to thrust, strike, drive").
Probably a Roman metaphoric extension of a nautical term for "driving a ship toward a particular landing." Popular modern meaning "be attractive or pleasing" is attested from 1907 ( appealing in this sense is from 1891), extended from "address oneself in expectation of a sympathetic response" (1794). Related: Appealed.
appeal (n.)
c. 1300, "proceeding taken to reverse a decision by submitting it to the review of a higher authority," from Old French apel "call, appeal in court" (Modern French appel), back-formation from apeler "call upon" (see appeal (v.)). Meaning "call to an authority" is from 1620s; that of "attractive power" attested by 1904.
