Latin Language Stack Exchange
Latin Language Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [vocabulary]

This tag is for questions concerning the meaning and usage of individual words or a few words in conjunction with each other.

Examples:

Definition of amare.
How do amare & diligere differ?
What does the phrase in amore mean?
Is the right spelling diligere or deligere?

This should not be used for grammatical questions.

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How do I say "Brexit" in Latin?

Londinium, Britannia, 284 AD. The military commander Carausius is leading a movement to take Britannia out of the Imperium Romanum. He thinks there is a conspiracy between locals and foreigners to take control of power in Roma, orchestrated mainly…
luchonacho
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Did the Romans have a word for "genius"?

I am looking for a Latin word corresponding to the common modern English sense of the word "genius", a person with extraordinary ability in a specific field. I do not want to refer to the ability itself (the Latin genius can very rarely mean that;…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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What would an election campaign be called in Latin?

Our site has its first election now and the voting period starts in 12 hours. Therefore it is a good moment to figure out some of the election vocabulary in Latin. What would be a good Latin word for an election campaign? The word "campaign" seems…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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Can you say "the" in Latin?

I'm reading Collar and Daniell's First Year in Latin right now and they mention that Latin has no articles such as "a", "an", and "the". Is this true? I have heard the book be inaccurate before.
James
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Does, "Apostolus Hiberniae" end in an "ae" ligature or are the letters separate?

Could someone help me with the Latin translation of, "Apostle of Ireland"? I have found, "Apostolus Hiberniae". Does "Hiberniae" have end in the "æ" ligature or are the "a" and "e" separate? I am painting an icon of St. Patrick for an older…
Joel Shambe
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Meaning of 'umbra'

Umbra means both (1) a literal shadow and (2) a ghost of a dead person (as well as everything in between). The OLD gives several (1-6) senses in technical detail relating strictly to (1). Moreover umbrosus is defined without explicit reference to…
Mar Johnson
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What is a best man in Latin?

A very recent question asks about a phrase involving a best man. What would be a good Latin translation of "best man", the groom's assistant in a wedding? I don't think vir optimus really means this. I don't know if there was a role analogous to a…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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The opposing meanings of the word donec?

I saw that "donec" might mean: "as long as", but it also can mean "till". In a sense those are opposing meanings. let's consider this example: I'm happy as long as there is daylight outside I'm happy until there is daylight outside Should we…
d_e
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How to say "fit" in Latin?

The English word "fit" has a number of different uses, and that makes searching difficult. I am looking for a verb or phrase to be used in a sentence like this: The souvenir does not fit in my bag. That is, I want to refer to having enough space,…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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How is that there are two different words, comparo, that appear to be identical?

In various dictionaries, like Lewis & Short, there are two completely separate entries for the word comparo, which otherwise appear to be identical in conjugation. How is that these two entries are considered to be different words, rather than just…
Tyler Durden
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many, much, a lot of in Latin

Can the Latin word multus be used both for expressing greater amounts of both countable and uncountable nouns? (in English there is many for countable, much for uncountable or the universal a lot of) Thank you.
user1257
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How would you translate "rank" or "level" to Latin?

In English, we can talk about people or things as being at a certain level or rank. For example, in gaming systems, you might have a character or ability that is level 10, or level 20, etc. What would be the best way to express this in Latin? My…
Adam
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Is there a noun for a tattoo?

If I'm reading it correctly, Cicero uses the verb compungo in De Officiis to mean something like "branded" to describe tattoos: Qui, ut scriptum legimus, cum uxorem Theben admodum diligeret, tamen ad ear ex epulis in cubiculum veniens barbarum, et…
Adam
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"Picea" mean Spruce or pitch pine?

While going through the name of the tree I find that Oxford Dictionary translated "picea" as a Spruce and while lewis translated it as a pitch pine. Both these are different trees. Why different translations?
Abhishek Yadav
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Is there any difference between "Benedicat tibi" and "Benedicat te"? Which is the correct translation for "Bless you"?

I find that the Vulgate shows "benedicat tibi Dominus" and I read online that there are posts saying "Benedicat te" as well. I have not found that "benedico" has to go with dative in my dictionary. Is there any difference between these two phrases?…
Valentine Vincent
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