'atrophiate' originates ultimately from Greek, specifically the word 'atrophia', where 'a-' meant 'not' and 'trophē' meant 'nourishment'.

'atrophia' (Greek) passed into Latin/medical usage as 'atrophia' and into English as 'atrophy'; later the verb-forming suffix '-iate' was added in modern medical/English formation to produce 'atrophiate' and related forms such as 'atrophiated'.

Initially, the root referred to 'lack of nourishment' or 'no nourishment'; over time it came to describe 'wasting or decline in size/function' and then the verb form came to mean 'to undergo or to cause to undergo such wasting.'