'attacher' originates from Old French, specifically the word 'atachier'/'attacher', where 'a-' (from 'ad-') meant 'to' or 'toward' and the root related to 'fasten' or 'fix'.

'attacher' changed from Old French 'atachier'/'attacher' into Middle English forms such as 'attachen' and later produced English derivatives like 'attach' and the agent noun 'attacher'.

Initially, it meant 'to fasten or bind', and over time the noun form came to mean both 'one who fastens' and 'an instrument that fastens'.