Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary

I.a surname for persons who walk upon the tips of their shoes, Paul. ex Fest. p. 11 Müll. (prob. from ᾁττω = ᾁσσω, to spring, to hop). So the comic poet, C. Quintius Atta († 652 A.U.C.), of whose writings fragments yet remain; cf. Bähr, Lit. Gesch. p. 71; Teuffel, Rom. Lit. § 120; Both. Fragm. Poet. Scen. II. p. 97 sq.; “Fest. l. l. Upon the signif. of the name Horace plays with the words: Recte necne crocum floresque perambulet Attae Fabula, si dubitem, etc.,” Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 79; cf. Weich. Poet. Lat. p. 345 sq.—The ancestor of the Gens Claudia was an Atta, Suet. Tib. 1.