English → Latin
“desert” in Latin
sōlitūdōAn instance of being alone; loneliness, solitariness, solitude, privacy; A lonely place; desert, wilderness; A state of vāstitāswaste (empty place), desert; desolation, devastation, ruin, destruction; immensity, vastnessvāstusEmpty, unoccupied, i.e. waste, desert.; Desolate, deserted, made lonely.; Wasted by destruction, laid waste, ravaged, dedēserōto leave, depart, desert, quit; to forsake, abandon, give up; to let downincultusuntilled, uncultivated; neglected; unadorned, unpolisheddignitāsworth, worthiness, merit, desert; fitness, suitability; rank, status, standing, esteem, dignityvirtūsmanhood, manliness, virility; courage, valor, resoluteness, gallantry; virtue, goodnessmereōto deserve, merit; to earn, get, obtain, acquire; to serve, to render service to (with ablative of the person or thing iprōmereōto be deserving of, deserve, merit, earn; to acquire, earn, gain, get, winnōbilitāscelebrity, fame, renown; nobility (noble birth); nobleness
The English word desert itself goes back to Latin serō, through dēsertum.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
desert
solitudo (in a good sense): vastitas (in a bad sense): a desert, regio vasta, or deserta, or deserta vastaque; loca deserta or inculta; solitudo vasta or deserta (but deserta rather poetically); also merely deserta, plur. (of a district abandoned by men): the Libyan deserts, vastitas Libyae; deserta Libyae: to turn a country into a desert, regioni vastitatem inferre; regionem vastare, devastare.
As an adjective, vastus; desertus; incultus.
desert s.
Worth, dignitas. virtus (excellence): tried desert, spectata virtus: according to his desert, pro merito; pro dignitate; merito.
A n action, or quality, which gains the thanks of others, meritum; promeritum: deserts with reference to anybody, merita erga or in aliquem (☞ alicujus circa aliquem merita would be false Latin): the nobility, which is founded upon desert, nobilitas, quae fit or coepit ex virtute. Vid. MERIT, s.
desert
TRANS., linquere (belongs PROP. to poetical language, and is used by Cic. only when his language takes a poetical flight, as in his orations): relinquere (to leave behind, either a person, or place; thence, also, it is = deserere, as Nep., Dat., 6, 3; signa relinquere to desert one’s colors, “to desert”): derelinquere (to desert anybody, or anything, without further troubling one’s self about them): cedere aliquo loco, or ex aliquo loco: decedere aliquo loco, de or ex aliquo loco: discedere ab aliquo, or loco, a or e loco (decedere aliquo loco implies the forsaking of one’s customary functions; discedere, merely going away): destituere (to desert where anybody’s support and assistance is expected). (The words are found in this connection and order.) relinquere et deserere; deserere et relinquere; destituere et relinquere. alicui deesse; deficere aliquem (to fail him when his services are required and expected): desciscere ab aliquo (e.g., nec si a me forte desciveris, idcirco te - patiar, etc., Cic.). Hope deserts anybody, destituitur aliquis a spe: my strength deserts, or fails me, vires me deficiunt; a viribus deficior: my memory deserts me, memoria deficit, or labat; memoria labor: presence of mind never deserts a good speaker, prudentia nunquam deficit bonum oratorem: to desert anybody or any party, etc., deficere ab aliquo or ab aliqua re (also figuratively); deficere ab amicitia alicujus; desciscere ab aliquo (Nep.).
desert
INTR., exercitum deserere signa desesere (Caes.) or relinquere (to desert his colors; Sall. Liv.): transire: transfugere (to cross over to; fly to): to desert to the enemy, ad adversarios or hostes transire, transfugere, perfugere; pro perfuga venire ad hostem (Caes.): to the Romans, ad Romanos transfugere (of actually flying to them; e.g., from a city; Liv., Nep.): many deserted to the enemy, transitiones ad hostem fiebant (Liv. 28, 16): to desert to anybody, in alicujus partes transgredi; deficere ad aliquem.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for desert?
- The usual Latin words for “desert” are sōlitūdō, vāstitās, vāstus; also dēserō, incultus, dignitās. 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.