English → Latin
“celebrate” in Latin
celebrōto go to a place or person in large numbers or often; throng, frequent, fill; to practise, employ, exercise, repeat; to praedicōto proclaim, declare publicly; to announce, make known; to praise, commend, extollaudōto praise, laud, extol; to commend, honor; to eulogizecanōto sing, recite, play; to sound, play, blow (a trumpet), especially a military call; to foretell, predict, prophesyagōto act, to behave; to do; to make (something that does not continue to exist after the maker stops)agitōto act, behave, do, or make persistently or unremittingly; to put something in motion, drive, impel; drive by rowing, ro
The English word celebrate itself goes back to Latin celeber, through celebrātus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
celebrate
give praise to, celebrare (general term for making a thing known and famous by one’s mention of it): praedicare (to praise by a loud and public declaration): laudare (to praise; opposed to vituperere, etc.): canere (to praise in poetry; post-Augustan for “celebrare” generally). To celebrate anybody’s praises, alicujus laudes or de alicujus laudibus praedicare: to celebrate anybody in verse, aliquem carmine celebrare; alicujus laudes or de alicujus laudibus canere: alicujus facta canere (of praising his achievements): anybody’s name in one’s writings, nomen alicujus celebrare scriptis: memoriam alicujus scriptis prosequi (the latter, of course, if the person is dead). [Vid: PRAISE anybody.]
Solemnize, agere, agitare (the proper word for festivals, birthdays, holidays, etc.): celebrare (to assist by one’s presence in making a numerous assembly; e.g., birth-day, marriage-feast less frequently of a festival): to celebrate a day as a festival, diem prosequi (Nep., Att., 4. extr.): a festival for three days, diem festum agere triduum or per triduum: public games, ludos facere or committere. To celebrate divine service, sacra procurare; sacris operari; res divinas rite perpetrare: but, in the modern sense, better *rebus divinis interesse (of the priests).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for celebrate?
- The usual Latin words for “celebrate” are celebrō, praedicō, laudō; also canō, agō, agitō. 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.