LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
English → Latin

“court” in Latin

The English word court itself goes back to Latin cohors, through cōrs.

Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864

court s.
Any open place, in front or behind a house, area. ☞ The area in front of a Roman house, together with the adjoining halls, formed the vestibulum, where the clients assembled: propatulum (a front court): cavum aedium or (later) cavaedium (the inner court, round which the rooms of the house were arranged. ☞ It was roofed in, with the exception of an open space called the compluvium, through which opening the rain-water fell into the impluvium; i. e., the uncovered part of the court: Vid: Plaut., Mil., 2, 2, 319): chors or cohors (a yard for cattle): ☞ aula, an open place before the houses of the Greeks, where also cattle were kept, only occurs, in this meaning, in the Latin poets.
The residence of a sovereign, or the sovereign himself, and those by whom he is surrounded; aula (general term; post-Augustan): regia (the royal palace; then = royal family, Vid: Liv., 24, 22, extr.: affinitate regiam contingere, 35, 19, mid.; hoc patria extorrem in tuam regiam adduxit): palatium: domus palatina (the palace of the emperor; time of emperors): rex: princeps (the king, prince, himself): aulici (the courtiers): ☞ curia and curiales are very late. The royal, imperial court, aula regia; aula Augusta: to stand well at court, aula et rege potitum esse (Tac. Ann., 6, 43, 1): anybody is a favorite by the court, aulae favor inclinat in aliquem (after Tac., Ann., 2, 56, 2): *aula alicui favet (instead of which Tac., Hist., 1, 13, extr., has aula in aliquem prona, which, however, is to be rejected on account of pronus; Vid: INCLINED): Not to be fit for a court, non aulae accommodatum esse ingenio (Curt., 8, 8, 21): to be the butt of the court, inter ludibria aulae esse (Suet., Ner., 6): he subjected king Narseus, together with his children, his wives, and the whole court, Narseum regem in ditionem subegit, simul liberos conjugesque et aulam regiam (Aurel., Vict. de Caes., 39, 35): an officer at court, purpuratus: *muneri aulico praefectus; famulus aulicus (a menial, late): court intrigues, *fraus or fallacia aulae; vafrae aulicorum artes: persons who are initiated in court intrigues, interiores aulici (Suet., Cal., 19, Ruhnken): a lady about the court, *femina nobilis, quae vivit cum regina (from the context, feminine, nobilis only; Vid: Curt., 3, 11, 25): one who has been introduced at court, qui (quae) ad aulam admittitur: the fashion or manners at court, or of the court, aulae ingenium (i. e., the peculiar tone that prevails); consuetudo regia (with reference to the sovereign himself, Vid: Nep., Dat., 5, 4). *mos aulicorum (with reference to the courtiers). the splendor of the court, or at court, apparatus aulicus or regius.
Art of pleasing, civility. To pay one’s court to anybody; to make court. [Vid: To COURT].
Court of justice, and the judges collectively, judicium (the place where justice is administered and the judges): judices (the judges; in Rome, the praetor): tribunal (the tribunal or bench on which the judge and his assessors were seated): subsellia (the benches of the judges and advocates): forum (the public place where the court was held): The king’s (or queen’s) court of justice, *regis tribunal: to appear befire the court, in judicium venire (Nep., Ep., 8); se sistere (at a fixed time, of the defendant and the bail); vadimonium sistere (of the bail; opposed to vadimonium deserere): to appear for anybody in court, alicui adesse in judicio (as counsel for the defendant): to surround the court with armed men, judicium claudere cou militibus armatis (Quint.): In the three courts, in trino or triplici foro (i. e., the forum Romanum; forum Julii Caesaris; forum Augusti): to remove a cause from the courts of law to the assembly of the people, judicium a subselliis in rostra deferre: to explain what the cause before the court is, exponere, quae causa in judicium deducta sit (Cic.): to sit in court, sedere judicem: to bring a matter before the court, aliquid deferre ad judices: to settle a matter out of court, rem intra parietes peragere: None of the courts sat, or, the courts were closed, for some days, justitium per aliquot dies servatum est (Liv.): to open the courts (after a vacation), justitium remittere (Liv.): to proclaim or give notice that the courts will be shut, justitium indicere: to hold a court, conventum agere; forum agere (i. e., cum is, qui provinciae praeest, civitates vocat, et de controversiis eorum cognoscit, Festi): jus dicere (general term). To be put out of court, causa cecidisse; causam perdidisse.
court v.
Pay court to, aliquem cultu quodam et honore prosequi (after Cic., De Invent., 2, 53, fin.): se alicui venditare (to insinuate one’s self into his favor by flattery, etc.): alicujus gratiam aucupari: to court anybody by flattery, blandiri alicui [ ☞ not abblandiri alicui]: assentatiuncula aliqua alicujus gratiam aucupari: to court the people, studium populi ac favorem aucupari (Flor.): to court a female, aliquam colere (Suet., Otho, 2); alicujus cultorem esse (Ov., A.A., 1, 722); amare aliquam or amatorem esse alicujus (A cultor is not necessarily an amator, Ov.); alicujus amore teneri or captum esse (to be in love with).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for court?
The usual Latin words for “court” are prōpatulus, cavaedium, cohors; also ōlla, rēgius, palātium. 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.