English → Latin
“devoir” in Latin
mūnusa service, office, employment; a burden, duty, obligation; a service, favorofficiumduty, service, office; obligation, an obligatory service, visit, or gesture; kindness, favor, courtesymīlitārisOf a soldier: soldierly; or of the military: martial.; Of or pertaining to war.; Warlike.
The English word devoir itself goes back to Latin dēbeō, through debere.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
devoir
munus: officium: militis officium (the duty of a soldier; opposed to that of a commander-in-chief): munus belli or militare (an individual’s department of service). To do one’s devoir (as a knight), militis officium praestare (Caes.); virtutem praestare; se virum praebere: fortiter pugnare: they did their devoir so well, that, etc., tantam virtutem praestiterunt, ut, etc.
Act of civility, etc., officium (chiefly post-Augustan). to pay one’s devoirs, salutare, convenire aliquem: aliquem salutatum venire: salutandi causa venire: ad officium venire: aliquam petere (to pay one’s addresses to).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for devoir?
- The usual Latin words for “devoir” are mūnus, officium, mīlitāris. 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.