Why does XML call them "attributes" and not name-value pairs?

[Roger L Costello <costello@mitre.org>]

Hi Folks,

 

Someone once told me:

 

               Call it what it is.
               Don’t invent some artificial name.

 

The items in yellow:

 

<Person name="John Doe" employer="Acme Inc." age="30">…</Person>

 

are name-value pairs.

 

Why does XML call them “attributes”?

 

/Roger