What is the Latin word for devote?

The usual Latin words for “devote” are dēvoveō, dīcō, dēdicō; also sacrō, cōnsecrō, addīcō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“devote” in Latin

dēvoveōto vow, offer; promise; devote, dedicate; to mark out, appoint, destine; (poetic) to bewitch, curse (by devoting to the dīcōto say, talk, speak, utter, mention; to declare, state; to tell dēdicōto dedicate, consecrate; to proclaim; to commit to sacrōto declare or set apart as sacred; consecrate, dedicate, hallow or devote; sanctify, enshrine; to doom or devote to dest cōnsecrōTo consecrate or dedicate; To hallow or sanctify; To deify addīcōto be propitious to, favour, speak favourably (of); to attribute, assign or ascribe something to someone; appoint, desig dōto give; to impart, offer, render, present with; to afford, grant sēpōnōto put aside, banish; to pick out, select; to disregard Velleiusof or pertaining to the gens Velleia.

The English word devote itself goes back to Latin voveō, through dēvōtus.

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

devote

Set apart by a religious vow, devovere (e.g., aliquid Deo, Caes.): dicare: dedicare: sacrare: consecrare [SYN. in CONSECRATE]: addicere (by a decree; e.g., agros omnes deae, Velleius).

More generally, to give up to any object, devovere (by a solemn vow of the person making the offer; e.g., se amicitiae alicujus, Caes.; se gloriae, Curt.; annos suos tibi soli, Ov.): dicare (appropriate it to, etc.; e.g., hunc totum diem tibi, Cic.): dedere (to give up wholly; e.g., operam tibi).

To mark out a person etc., for something evil, devovere (to devote to the infernal gods; e.g. natum suum): destinare aliquem alicui rei or (better in prose) ad aliquid (e.g., aliquem arae, Verg.; aliquem ad mortem, Liv.): addicere (to give up by a formal decision; e.g., Galliam perpetuae servituti, Caes.; aliquem morti, Cic.).

To set apart anything with the intention of employing it for a particular purpose, seponere (to put it aside for; e.g., pecuniam ad or in aliquid; ad fanum [sc. ornandum], Cic.; in aedificationem templi, Liv.): destinare aliquid alicui rei or ad aliquid (to intend it for; e.g., domos publicis usibus, Velleius; quartum diem cibo): designare ad aliquid (mark it out for). To DEVOTE ONESELF. To give one’s self up to. (α) To a person, devovere se alicui or alicujus amicitiae (Caes.): dedere se (totum) alicui (Cic.): addicere se alicui (e.g., senatui, Cic.): dicare se alicui (Cic.): applicare so ad amicitiam alicujus (Cic.) or ad aliquem (Varr.): totum se alicui tradere. (β) To a pursuit, etc., se dare, dedere or tradere alicui rei: studere alicui rei: alicujus rei studiosum esse, dedere se studio alicujus rei (e.g., eloquentiae, citharae): operam dare or navare (☞ in Silver Age also studium dare) alicui rei: operam ponere, studium collocare in re; operam conferre in aliquid; adhibere studium ad aliquid or curam et diligentiam in re (to apply pains, endeavour, diligence to anything): colere aliquid, incumbere ad aliquid or in aliquid (☞ alicui rei is unclassical; to pursue anything diligently): inservire alicui rei (to make one’s self the slave of anything); elaborare in re (to use great exertions to produce something); agere, also sequi aliquid (to give one’s self up especially to anything); se conferre ad aliquid or ad studium alicujus rei; se applicare ad aliquid or ad studium quoddam (to turn one’s careful attention to a thing; to begin to pursue it attentively) [☞ vacare rei, in this sense, is not Latin]: to devote one’s self no longer to a thing, omittere studium alicujus rei (e.g., sapientiae): to devote one’s self entirely to anything, totum se conferre ad studium alicujus rei; totum et mente et animo in aliquid insistere; ponere totum animum et diligentiam in re; omni cogitatione et cura in aliquid incumbere; omni studio eniti ad aliquid (e.g., ad dicendum): to devote one’s self to one thing only, in una re quasi tabernaculum suae vitae collocare (Cic., De Or, 3, 20, 78): to devote one’s self entirely to the investigation of one subject, totum se in aliqua re exquirenda collocare: to devote onself to litterature, litteris studere; litterarum or doctrinarum esse studiosum; litterarum studio se dedere or tradere; elaborare in litteris; ad litterarum studium or ad doctrinae studia se conferre; ad litteras incumbere (☞ On the contrary, studiis vacare = not to pursue the sciences; Vid: Cic., De Or., 3, 11, 43): to devote one’s self to philosophy, ad studium philosophiae se conferre (☞ on the contrary, philosophiae vacare = to have leisure to pursue philosophy; Cic., De Divin., 1, 6, 11): to devote one’s self to an art, arti se dedere; artem amplecti: to devote one’s self entirely to music, penitus se dedere musicis: to devote one’s self to virtue, virtutem sequi or amplexari: to devote one’s self to pleasure, voluptatibus se tradere or se dedere. ☞ Devovere se alicui rei is found occasionally; e.g., devovere se amicitiae alicujus, Cic.; se gloriae, Curt.; but must be used carefully. (γ) To sacrifice one’s self to any cause, etc.; to devote one’s self to death, se offerre ad mortem: se devovere (to the infernal gods); for anybody, pro aliquo; for one’s country, vitam suam totam patriae dedere; victimam se praebere reipublicae; pro salute patriae caput suum vovere: to devote myself and all that I possess to the cause of my country, se suasque fortunas pro incolumitate patriae devovere; se suamque vitam reipublicae condonare. Vid: To SACRIFICE ONE’S SELF.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for devote?: The usual Latin words for “devote” are dēvoveō, dīcō, dēdicō; also sacrō, cōnsecrō, addīcō. 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.