affectare

Affectare is a Latin verb of the first conjugation (infinitive affectāre). It occurs in classical Latin with a range of related senses tied to intention, effort, or feigning, and it continued to be used in later Latin with similar and expanded meanings.

The principal senses of affectāre include: to aim at or strive after something, to seek after, or to intend to obtain it; to desire or long for something; to set one’s mind on a goal or object. In rhetorical and literary contexts it can also mean to pretend or feign, to affect an attitude or emotion, or to influence someone or something indirectly by effort or appearance. The verb can take a direct object in the sense of the thing sought or desired, and it is sometimes accompanied by infinitives or subordinate clauses to express purpose or result.

Morphology and usage notes: as a first-conjugation verb, affectāre follows standard patterns. Present active indicative forms are affectō, affectās, affectat, affectāmus, affectātis, affectant; the infinitive is affectāre; the perfect is affectāvī, affectātum; imperfect affects as affectābam, etc. Passive forms exist (affector, affectāris, affectātur, etc.) in appropriate contexts. The participle perfect is affectātus. In nuance, affectāre often conveys a deliberate, purposeful action and can shade toward intensification or feigning, depending on context.

Etymology is typical of first-conjugation verbs and reflects the semantic broadening common to Latin impact verbs; precise origins are not always transparent in the surviving texts. See also affectio, affectus, afficere, and related terms.