English → Latin
“assert” in Latin
aiōto say, speak, assert, say “yes”, affirm (also in reply); to say, argueaffirmōto present (something) as fixed, firm, or true; affirm, assert, maintain; to strengthen, confirm, corroborate; to make cassevērōto do any thing with earnestness, pursue earnestly; to be serious; to assert, declare positively, affirm; to make known,dēfendōto drive away; to defend, guard or protect, to stand up for, to stick up forcontendōto hurry; to stretch, draw tight, make taut, strain; to place together in comparison, compare, contrastdīcōto say, talk, speak, utter, mention; to declare, state; to telldēfēnsōto defend (against), ward offvindicōto lay claim to as one's own (often with sibi); to set free, liberate, emancipate; to protect someone from (+ ab or ex ateneōto hold, have; to grasp; to possess, occupy, control; to watch, guard, maintain, defend; to retain, keepobstinōto resolve, determine, be firmly resolved, persist
The English word assert itself goes back to Latin serō, through assertus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
assert
aio (to affirm a proposition by simply expressing it; opposed to nego): affirmare (to affirm it as certain: opposed to doubts and rumors, dubitare): asseverare (to assert strongly and in earnest; opposed to a light or jocular affirmation): defendere (to maintain a proposition that is attacked): contendere (to perseveringly maintain an opinion against contradicion): dicere (to say, without any accessory notion). To assert that anything is not so, negare. Democritus asserts that nobody can be a great poet without something of madness, Democritus negat sine furore quemquam poetam magnum esse posse. Vid: Not asserere.
Defend, defendere: defensare: from or against anybody, ab aliquo, contra aliquem, ab aliqua re: tueri: tutari (ab aliquo, ab aliqua re, contra aliquem or aliquid): propugnare pro aliqua re. (The words are found in this connection and order), defendere etprotegere; defendere et propugnare [Vid: DEFEND].
Claim; vindicate a title to: rem sibi or ad se vindicare (by law or not): tenere: obstinere (to make good one’s right to a disputed possession): retinere (to withhold anything, not to give it up). In the poets and later prose writers, asserere aliquid alicui (sibi), or asserere only (se caelo asserere, Ov. So “assert the native skies,” Dryd.; i. e., claim to be heaven-born: nec laudes assere nostras, OVid :; nee sapientis nomen sibi asseruit, Quint.). To assert a right successfully, jus tenere, obtinere, retinere: to assert a right (= to endeavor to make it good), jus persequi: to assert one’s liberty (i. e., to escape from an actual servitude), se in libertatem asserere; se asserere (Ov.).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for assert?
- The usual Latin words for “assert” are aiō, affirmō, assevērō; also dēfendō, contendō, dīcō. 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.