English → Latin
“cultivate” in Latin
colōto cultivate the land, till, tend, take care of a field or garden; to inhabit; to frequent, be the guardian of, cherish,fingōto shape, fashion, form, knead (dough); to touch, touch gently, stroke, stroke gently, handle; to adorn, dress, arrangefōrmōto shape, form, fashion, formatcōnfōrmōto form, fashion or shape (skilfully); to outline or describe; to conform toexcolōto tend or cultivate (figurative); to improve or perfect; to honourexpoliōto smooth, polish; to elaborate, embellishīnstituōto set up, establish, found, institute or arrange; to train, teach, instruct, educate (usually by a course of training);
The English word cultivate itself goes back to Latin cultus, through cultivātus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
cultivate
agrum colere: agrum arare, colere (the latter also of growing vines): facere agrum (to turn into a field, in general, Col., 2, 2, 8): semen facere (to put the seed into the ground): to cultivate a woody district, or a forest, silvestrem regionem in arvorum formam redigere (Col., 2, 2, 8): a piece or tract of land that has never been cultivated, ager nulla ex parte cultus: to leave the care of cultivating one’s fields to somebody else, agros alicui colendos dare: the land is not cultivated, *terra non habet cultores; *terra jacet inculta: soil that is fit to be cultivated, campus or terra arabilis; ager culturae facilis: a soil that is not easy to cultivate, terra vix ulla cultura vincibilis: the Gauls considered it degrading to cultivate their own fields, Galli turpe esse ducunt frumentum manu quaerere.
Of intellectual cultivation, fingere: formare: conformare (to shape): colere: excolere (to train and develope): expolire (to polish): instituere (to instruct in any given branch of learning): to cultivate one’s mind, or mental powers, animum, mentem fingere or conformare: animum colere, excolere (doctrina): to cultivate one’s manners, or those of others, mores conformare; expolire hominemque reddere; omni vita atque cultu excolere atque expolire; ad humanitatem informare or effingere: to cultivate the minds of youth, puerilem aetatem ad humanitatem informare; juventutem ad honestatem fingere; juventutis mentem ad virtutem fingere: to cultivate anybody’s mind or taste for the arts and sciences, artibus et litteris aliquem erudire or instituere: to cultivate an art or science, ad aliquid se applicare (e.g., ad philosophiam, ad eloquentiam, ad scribendam historiam, etc., Cic.): ad aliquod studium se applicare (Ter., Heaut. Prol., 23): alicui rei studere (e.g., arti scientiae, litteris, virtuti; Cat. ap. Gell., in aliqua re poeticae artis non erat, si quis in ea re studebat, etc.) [☞ artem colere, exercere, factitare, in aliqua arte versari = to practice it.] : doctrina (or disciplina) imbui or erudiri: to cultivate a taste for litterature, litteris studere; litteris se tradere or se dedere; litterarum studio se dedere; animum ad studia referre: to cultivate the higher branches of the arts and sciences, altioribus studiis artibusque se dedere: to have cultivated the sciences, litteris imbutum esse (Vid: Cic., Ecl., p. 23); in litteris aliquid profecisse (to have cultivated them to some considerable degree): to cease or give over cultivating an art, desinere artem: to be no longer cultivated (of an art), cessare. Cultivated nations, populi eruditi (Vid: Cic., Rep., 2, 10).
To cultivate anybody’s acquaintance, appetere alicujus familiaritatem: anybody’s friendship, alicujus amicitiam sequi; ad alicujus familiaritatem or amicitiam se applicare (Cic.): to cultivate the friendship of the Athenians, ad Atheniensium societatem se applicare (Nep.).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for cultivate?
- The usual Latin words for “cultivate” are colō, fingō, fōrmō; also cōnfōrmō, excolō, expoliō. 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.