To touch a thing's state from outside — influence that lands; in feeling's vocabulary, the outward face of emotion.
Latin affectus (disposed, influenced), past participle of afficere: ad- (to) + facere (to do, to make); to touch a thing's state from outside, and in the vocabulary of feeling, the outward face of emotion.
A touch on a thing's state from outside, or the outward face an emotion shows.