Other forms: attributions
In advertising, attribution is working out which advertisement actually caused a sale. Attribution modelling, last-click attribution, the attribution problem.
It is genuinely hard: a customer sees several advertisements and buys once, and deciding which one gets the credit changes where the money goes. Last-click attribution credits the final advertisement and is known to be wrong; multi-touch models spread the credit. Elsewhere, attribution means saying who made or said something — attribution of a painting, a quotation without attribution — and in journalism it means naming the source.
1nounattributionWorking out which advertisement caused a sale.
“Their whole attribution model credits whatever happened last.”
2nounnounSaying who made or said something.
“The quotation appears everywhere with no attribution at all.”
attribution is an assigning of credit.
Latin attribuere is ad-, to, plus tribuere, to assign — which comes from tribus, a tribe, and originally meant to divide among the tribes. Tribute, contribute and distribute are all the same act of allocating.
Latin
attributio
Middle French
attribution
English, today
attribution
From Middle French attribution, from Latin attributio.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Marketing & Advertising, Antiques & Collecting