Word Origin & History
appealc.1300 (n.), early 14c. (v.), originally in legal sense of "calling" to a higher judge or court, from Anglo-Fr. apeler "to call upon, accuse," from O.Fr. apeler (11c., Mod.Fr. appeler), from L. appellare "to accost, address, appeal to, summon, name," iterative of appellere "to prepare," from ad- "to"
+ pellere "to beat, drive." Probably a Roman metaphoric extension of a nautical term for "driving a ship toward a particular landing." Popular modern meaning "to be attractive or pleasing" is quite recent, attested from 1907 (appealing in this sense is from 1891), from the notion of "to address oneself in expectation of a sympathetic response."
appealingmid-15c., "action of petitioning a higher court or authority," from
appeal (q.v.). By 1890s this had taken on as well a sense of "attractive.