English → Latin
“auction” in Latin
auctiōincrease; auctionsectiōcutting off, cutting up; mowing; surgeryauctiōnorto hold an auction or public sale; make a sale by auction; to buy at auctioncōnstituōto place, put, locate, lay; to set up, establish, constitute, found; to build, erect, constructprōpōnōto set forth, to put forth, to lay out; to expose to view, display; to make known
The English word auction itself goes back to Latin augeō, through auctiō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
auction
auctio (general term): anctio hastae; hasta publica: hasta censoria (auction by public authority, a spear being fixed in the ground: the first two of confiscated property: the last of taxes and other sources of revenue): sectio (division by auction of booty, confiscated property, etc.: hence sectores, persons who bought goods at such sales to get a profit by reselling them). To hold an auction, auctionari: auctionem facere or constituere: an auction of public property, hasta posita auctionari: to proclaim or advertise an auction, auctionem praedicare (by the herald): auctionem proscribere or proponere (by a notice). They are announcing an auction, conclamatur auctionem fore: to sell by auction, auctione constitute vendere aliquid: auctionem facere et vendere aliquid: hasta posita vendere aliquid (of sales of public property): to be sold by auction, hasta posita vendi or venire (of public property): to buy at an auction, in auctione emere: to put off an auction, auctionem proferre: never to attend auctions of public property, numquam ad hastam publicam accedere: a constant attendant at auctions (who goes about to markets to sell his purchases), circulator auctionum (Cic.., Ep., 10, 32, 3).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for auction?
- The usual Latin words for “auction” are auctiō, sectiō, auctiōnor; also cōnstituō, prōpōnō. 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.