LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
English → Latin

“depart” in Latin

The English word depart itself goes back to Latin pars, through departiō.

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

depart
Leave a place or person; set out from, etc., abire (general term for going away; from, a or ex: very seldom with the ablative of place alone): abscedere (to withdraw, especially from some one who orders or wishes the departure; hence, also, of sorrow, anger, etc.; quitting a person; from, etc., a or ex): cedere aliquo loco or ex aliquo loco (to withdraw from a place in consequence of some cause compelling us): decedere aliquo loco, de or ex aliquo loco (to depart from a place where one has had business, etc.): discedere ab aliquo or loco, a or e loco (to depart, and so separate one’s self from a person or place; decedere is absolute, discedere relative [Herzog.] ; hence, discedere, of persons departing from each other different ways; but “he departed’ is ille discessit, according to Bremi, because decedere has obtained a different meaning, but more probably, because separation from a person is implied): excedere loco or e loco (to go out of a place, and quit its neighbourhood): digredi ab aliquo (to quit a person; also de aliqua re): egredi loco, a or ex loco, less commonly loco (to come out of a place; leave the space it encloses): devertere a aliquo (to quit a person by taking a road that leads one in a different direction): proficisci (to set out): sē facessere (to take one’s self off; used in commands, etc.; ex loco; loco; a re). ☞ Not degredi, which is to come down (e.g., ex arce; monte, colle, etc.): depart from my sight, e conspectu meo abscedite (Plaut.): depart, procul este (addressed to the uninitiated, etc.): depart hence! facessite hinc! to depart from a province. [Vid: PROVINCE.]
To depart from the way (= deviate), degredi de via; devertere with and without via; deflectere, declinare de via; avertere se itinere, or ab itinere (all these with the will); aberrare, deerrare via or a via (to depart from the way against the will, to lose one’s way): to depart from the high-road into a by-path, de via in semitam degredi: to depart from the truth, deflectere a veritate; from a custom, recedere a consuetudine: not to depart from one’s custom, institutum suum tenere: to depart from an ancient custom, a pristina consuetudine deflectere; from one’s duty, ab officio discedere, or decedere; from what is right, abire a jure (Cic., Verr., 1, 44, 114): from what one has undertaken, incepto abscedere (Livius26, 7): from what one intended, declinare a proposito (☞ not digredi, Vid: Ellendt, Cic., Brut., 21, 82); declinare ab eo, quod proposueris: one may not depart a nail’s breadth from anything, as the saying is, ab aliqua re non licet transversum, ut aiunt, digitum discedere; ab aliqua re transversum unguem non oportet discedere.
As euphemism for to die, decedere with or without vita, de or ex vita; exire e, or de, vita; excedere vita or ex vita (☞ Görenz says, not de vita; but Hand thinks him wrong): vitam deserere and (Verg.) vitam relinquere; ex hominum vita demigrare: cf., discedere ex vita is seldom used by Cic., and only for the sake of the metaphor; Cato, Maj., 23, 84. The departed, mortui; qui ex vita excesserunt or emigraverunt.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for depart?
The usual Latin words for “depart” are abeō, abscēdō, locus; also proficīscor, dēcēdō. 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.