English → Latin
“accusation” in Latin
accūsātiōAn accusation, indictment, complaint.; A rebuke, reproof, reproach.incūsātiōblaming, denunciation, accusationīnsimulātiōaccusationcrīminātiōaccusation, complaint; calumnycrīmena judicial decision, verdict, or judgment; an object of reproach, invective; a crime, fault, offensecalumniaA cunning device, trickery, artifice, sophistry, chicanery.; A pretence, evasion, subterfuge.; A misrepresentation, falsquerimōniacomplaint (grievance)querēlacomplaint, protest, grievance; illness; lamentāctiōaction; a doing or performing, behavior; public function, civil act; suit, process, actionpetītiōan attack, thrust, blow; a request, petition, beseeching; an applying for office
The English word accusation itself goes back to Latin causa, through accūsātiō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
accusation
accusatio, incusatio, insimulatio, criminatio (all as actions. SYN. under ACCUSE): crimen (charge): calumnia (false accusation). To defend anybody against an accusation, crimen defendere ab aliquo. To defend one’s self against an accusation, crimen amoliri, propulsare; culpam a se amovere: crimen diluere or criminationem dissolvere (to show its injustice or groundlessness).
As a law term, querimonia, querela (complaint: the former from a sense of injustice; the latter from a feeling of vexation): delatio nominis (giving the name of the accused to the judge): periculom (at causing danger to the accused): actio (general term for the legal proceedings, whether in a civil or criminal cause): accosatio (the charge made, especially in a criminal court): petitio, postulatio (in civil causes: demand for restitution or redress): vindicatio (civil action to recover a thing): condictio (civil action on account of a person): formula (the pleading: the formula according to which the accusation was drawn up): libellus (the written accusation). Not. dica, δίκη = actio, in civil causes, when the trial spoken of took place in a Greek court.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for accusation?
- The usual Latin words for “accusation” are accūsātiō, incūsātiō, īnsimulātiō; also crīminātiō, crīmen, calumnia. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.