English → Latin
“credit” in Latin
fidēsfaith; belief (belief without empirical evidence, direct experience, or observation); reliance (act of relying on or truauctōritāscredibility, prestige, reputation, importance; influence, weight, personal weight; power, ability, authoritygrātiagrace; thankfulness; thanks (see grātiās agō, grātiās habeō)opīniōopinion, conjecture, imagination, fancy, belief, expectation; reputation, esteem; report, rumorexīstimātiōjudgement, opinion (normally good); reputation, honour, character, credittribuōto grant, bestow, assign, attribute; to yield, give up, concede, allow; to divide, share, distribute
The English word credit itself goes back to Latin crēdō, through crēditum.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
credit
Belief; the deserving of belief, fides. [☞ A man dat fidem, “promises;” a thing dat fidem,” adds credit;” a man habet fidem,” believes; ’ a thing habet fidem, “is credible,” Copleston.]: auctoritas (arising from the weight of testimony, character, etc.). (The words are found in this connection and order), auctoritas et fides. To give credit to [Vid: To CREDIT]: we must consider what credit is to be attached to his assertion, considerandum est, quanta fides ei habenda sit: anybody’s credit stands very low with anybody, parva alicui est apud aliquem fides; parvam alicui habet aliquis fidem: to be deserving of credit, auctoritatem, or fidem, or auctoritatem et fidem habere (of letters, documents, etc.), dignum esse, cui fides habeatur (of a person): not to deserve credit, indignum esse, cui credatur (of persons); fidem nullam habere (of letters, documents, etc.): the credit of the document is gone, tabulae fides resignatur [Vid. BELIEF, CREDIBILITY.
Reputation, auctoritas: gratia (influence, favor): opinio (opinion of a person, whether good or bad): existimatio (good opinion): to support anybody by one’s credit, gratia aliquem juvare: to gain credit, auctoritatem sibi comparare: anybody’s or one’s credit increases, gliscit auctoritas: anybody is losing credit, cadit auctoritas: gratia minuitur: one who injures anybody’s credit, dignitatis et auctoritatis afflictor et perditor: to keep up or preserve one’s credit, gratiam tueri: to be in high credit, magna esse auctoritate; auctoritate florere or vigere: with anybody, gratiosum esse apud aliquem; gratia alicujus florere; gratia multum valere apud aliquem (to be high in his favor).
To do credit to, etc.: anything does no credit to anybody, aliquid alicui est dedecori or turpitudini: to do no credit (of a thing), pudori esse: it does me great credit that, etc., summo honori mihi est, quod, etc.: your behavior does you no credit, non te dignum facis (Comically): what does anybody credit, honestus: honorificus: it does us no credit at all, est dedecus nostrum: to do great credit, magnae esse gloriae.
In a commercial sense; fides (faith, trust, in general): existimatio (opinion entertained of a man’s solvency, honesty, etc). Public credit, populi fides, or fides only: anybody’s credit does not stand so high as it did, fides cecidit, concidit: anybody’s credit has begun to fail, fides aliquem deficere coepit: public credit has received a blow in every part of Italy, fides tota Italia angustior est: public credit is gone, fides de foro sublata est: to endeavor to injure anybody’s credit, fidem alicujus moliri: to ruin a person’s credit, fiduciam arcae conturbare: to take away one’s credit, fidem tollere: to re-establish one’s credit, fidem revocare: to maintain one’s credit, existimationem tueri: to uphold the public credit, fidem populi retinere: to raise one’s credit, ad fidem aliquid acquirere: for my own part, both my money and my credit is gone, ego non rem familiarem modo, sed etiam fidem consumpsi (Pomp., ap. Sall., Frag.): to assist anybody with one’s credit, fide sustentare aliquem (Cic.): to borrow money on anybody’s credit, pecuniam alicujus fide mutuam sumere: one’s credit remaining good, fide incolumi: to let anybody have anything on credit, credere alicui aliquid: to sell on credit, vendere in diem (if the day for payment is fixed); vendere pecunia non praesenti (general term for selling without ready money, after Plaut., Men., 5, 9, 97): to buy on credit, emere in diem (see the remark above, as to in diem); emere pecunia non praesenti (in general): a letter of credit (perhaps), diploma, neuter: the credit-side of an account, acceptum: to set down or place to anybody’s credit, in acceptum referre alicui (Cic., Verr., 1, 36, 37).
credit v.
To believe, alicui rei or alicui credere (of a thing), aliquid credere (= to believe it true; the accusative being a neuter pronoun, id, quid, etc. e.g., quid jam credas, aut cui credas, Terentianus): aliquid esse credere (to believe anything to be true, or the case, opposed to negare aliquid esse); alicui or alicui rei fidem habere, tribuere; alicui rei fidem adjungere [SYN. in BELIEVE; ☞ not fidem dare or adhibere]: to credit anything without examination, or [as is often incorrectly said] implicitly, alicui rei servire (e.g., incertis rumoribus, Caes.): to cause anything to be credited, alicui rei fidem facere, afferre or addere: anything cannot be credited, aliquid excedit fidem (Curt.); abhorret a fide (Liv.). To credit anything on anybody’s authority, credo tibi de istis (Plaut.); or by aliquo auctore: to deserve, or not to deserve to be credited; Vid: “to deserve (or) not to deserve credit,” in CREDIT. [Vid: To BELIEVE.]
In a mercantile sense: to credit anybody with a sum, in acceptum referre alicui.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for credit?
- The usual Latin words for “credit” are fidēs, auctōritās, grātia; also opīniō, exīstimātiō, tribuō. 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.