English → Latin
“crane” in Latin
grūscrane (bird), sometimes eaten as a delicacy; battering ramvipiōkind of small cranetrochleamechanical contrivance for raising weights; case or sheaf containing one or more pulleys; pulley blockcarchēsiumcarchesium, a kind of Greek cup or beaker particularly used for wine and ritual libations; masthead, particularly as usetympanumdrum, timbrel, tambour, tambourine; eardrumprehēnsiōan act of seizing, apprehending, arresting, capturing; the right or power to seize or arrest
The English word crane itself goes back to Latin crānium.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
crane
grus: *ardea grus (Liv.): vipio (a young crane, Plin., 10, 49, 69).
A machine for raising weights, carchesium versatile (carchesium = a structure surrounding the mast above the yard, antenna; here the sails were managed, etc. :” The carchesium was sometimes made to turn upon its axis [carchesium versatile], so that with its apparatus of pulleys it served the purposes of a crane” Dict. of Antiqq., and Index to Rode’s Vitr.): trochlea (τροχαλία): tympanum (Lucr., 4, 903; Multaque per trochleas et tympana pondere magno Commovet, atque levi sustollit machina nisu. Vid: Vitr., 10, 2. Rode translates trochlea,” a sheaf of pulleys.” Tympanum was probably “a windlass”) prehensio (Caes., B.C., 2, 9; turris tectum per se ipsum prehensionibus - suspendere ac tollere; Vid: Herz.,: others read pressionibus): to raise by a cane, machina in carchesio versatili constituta corripere aliquid ac tollere (after Vitr., 10, 22): per trochleas sustollere; prehensionibus elevare or suspendere ac tollere. Another machine for lifting weights was sucula.
An instrument used to draw liquor out of a cask, siphon or sïphon (σίφων Cic., De Fin., 2, 8, in.).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for crane?
- The usual Latin words for “crane” are grūs, vipiō, trochlea; also carchēsium, tympanum, prehēnsiō. 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.