English → Latin
“constitution” in Latin
statusstate, status, condition; position, place; rank, statusconditiōa making, creating; condition, status, position, circumstancecompositiōarrangement, combination; union; agreement, pactstruōto place one thing on top of another, to pile up, join together; to compose, construct, build; to ready, prepare, deviselēxthe legal machinery of a state, the law; a law, statute, bill; the laws regarded as a body, the constitutioncōnstitūtiōa constitution, disposition, nature, character; a definition; point in dispute; a regulation, order, arrangement, systemaffectiōThe relation or disposition towards something produced in a person.; A change in the state of the body or mind of a persmodusmeasure; bound, limit, end; manner (of doing or being arranged), way (of doing or being arranged), method
The English word constitution itself goes back to Latin statuō, through cōnstitūtiō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
constitution
state, status: conditio. Obs., conditio is lasting, status, transient.
Composition, compositio; structura (the manner in which anything is composed).
Ordinance, law, lex. The constitutions (of a church, etc.), leges; instituta et leges: constitutio (in Silver Age).
Temperament, corporis constitutio, affectio: a good, strong constitution, firma corporis constitutio or affectio: corpus bene constitutum: valetudinis prosperitas: to have a strong constitution, corpore robusto esse: alicui corpus bene constitutum est: a bad, weak constitution, corporis or valetudinis infirmitas, imbecillitas, valetudo tenuis, infirma or non firma: to have a weak constitution, valetudine infirma uti: to have a very bad or weak constitution, tenui aut nulla potius esse valetudine.
Form of government, civitatis forma: civitatis status (state of the country): reipublicae ratio or modus (with reference to the nature of the government): reipublicae genus (considered as a species of the various constitutions) instituta et leges (its laws and institutions collectively): a constitution very judiciously established by our fathers, descriptio civitatis a majoribus nostris sapientissime constituta: to change the constitution, formam reipublicae mutare: to give a constitution to a state, rempublicam institutis temperare: rempublicam or imperium constituere: rempublicam stabilire: against the constitution of the country, *legibus civitatis repugnans: non legitimus; non justus.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for constitution?
- The usual Latin words for “constitution” are status, conditiō, compositiō; also struō, lēx, cōnstitūtiō. 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.