Origin: 1350–1400;Middle English < Latindistractus (past participle of distrahere to draw apart), equivalent to dis-dis-1 + trac- (variant stem of trahere to draw) + -tus past participle suffix
mid-14c., "to draw asunder or apart" (literal and figurative), from L. distractus, pp. of distrahere "draw in different directions," from dis- "away" + trahere "to draw" (see tract (1)). Sense of "to throw into a state of mind in which one knows not how to act" is from 1580s.