English → Latin
“criminal” in Latin
facinorōsuscriminal, villainous; atrocious, viciousscelestuswicked, villainous, criminal, abominable; calamitous, unfortunatescelerōto defile, contaminate, pollutescelerōsuswicked, scelerousnefāriusnefarious, execrable, abominable, loathsomeimpiusdisloyal, undutiful; godless, impious, unpatriotic; damned, accursedprotervusviolent, vehement; reckless, wanton, shameless, impudent; audaciouspoenapenalty, punishment; hardship, torment; executionanimadvertōto pay attention, attend, focus, concentrate, give heed to, consider, regard, observe; to notice, observe, take note (ofcapitālisof the head or life; dangerous, which concerns the life or death; deadly, mortal
The English word criminal itself goes back to Latin crīmen, through criminalis.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
criminal adj.
facinorosus; scelestus; sceleratus; scelerosus (of persons only): nefarius (of persons and things). (The words are found in this connection and order), scelestus et nefarius (e.g., action); impius; protervus [SYN. in CRIME]: poena or supplicio dignus: animadvertendus (deserving punishment; the latter of things only): capitalis (with reference to capital offence, i. e., in Justinian’s time, not only those of which the punishment was death, but some of which the punishment was condemnation to banishment, or the mines, Justinian, Inst., 4, 18, 2). It is only in forensic Latin that “criminalis” is used (Cod. Just., 3, 35, 3, and 9, 41, 15); and the adverb “criminaliter.” (Ulp., Dig., 47, 2, extr.). Criminal law, jus publicum. A treatise on criminal law, *de jure publico; *de causis publicis (as title of a book): a criminal judge, or judge in criminal cases, qui judicium publicum or capitis exercet; quaesitor ac judex. Anybody’s treatise or work on criminal law, is liber (alicujus), qui est de judiciis publicis: one that has studied criminal law, *juris publici or causarum publicarum peritus: criminal court, *forum rerum capitalium, or *forum, ubi judicia publica fiunt. A criminal cause, judicium publicum: causa publica: quaestio (Cic. distinguishes judicia puniendorum maleficiorum causa reperta = “criminal causes,” from judicia distrahendarum controversiarum causa reperta, “civil causes”): causa capitalis; res capitalis; lis capitis (if the punishment was death, banishment, or the mines). [☞ Causa criminalis, not before Cod. Just., 9, 41, 15.] To commence criminal proceedings, publicum judicium instituere (Inst., Justinian, 4, 18, 1): to commence criminal proceedings against anybody, litem capitis in aliquem inferre: to defend one’s self in a criminal court, causam capitis or publicam dicere: criminal acts, res turpes; flagitia; nefaria, plur., (the last two stronger terms): to lead a criminal life, turpiter or flagitiose vivere.
Criminal conversation; Vid: ADULTARY.
criminal s.
sons (e.g., punire sontes, Cic.): nocens: maleficus: qui scelus fecit or commisit. ☞ “Reus,” in this meaning, is not Latin, since it conveys only the notion of “being accused.” A criminal condemned to hard labour, ad opus damnatus.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for criminal?
- The usual Latin words for “criminal” are facinorōsus, scelestus, scelerō; also scelerōsus, nefārius, impius. 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.