What is the Latin word for divine?

The usual Latin words for “divine” are dīvīnō, praesāgiō, praesentiō; also praecipiō, coniectō, assequor. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“divine” in Latin

dīvīnōto foresee, foretell, divine; to prophesy; to guess praesāgiōto forebode praesentiōto have a presentiment; to presage praecipiōto take or seize beforehand, in advance; to anticipate; to enjoin, direct, order, command coniectōto throw, cast or bring together; connect; to conclude or infer by conjecture, guess; to conclude, interpret, prophesy (assequorto follow someone in order to come up to him; pursue, go after; to overtake, come up with, reach, catch up; to gain, obt cōnsequorto move, travel, come, pass or go after, or follow behind another (in time and/or space); to chase, to pursue, to go aft futūrusabout to be, about to exist; future; future active participle of sum.dolusdeception, deceit, fraud, guile, treachery, trickery; evil intent; malice; wrongdoing (with a view to the consequences);dīvīnusdivine, of a deity, superhuman, supernatural

The English word divine itself goes back to Latin deivos, through dīvīnus.

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

divine v.

divinare (absolutely, Cic., Divin., 1, 3: aliquid, futura, etc.; also divinare de aliqua re; e.g., de exitu, Nep.): praesagire (= “futura ante sentire,” Cic.; aliquid animo): praesentire (have a presentiment of; futura, Cic., aliquid animo, Caes.; dolos, Verg.): praecipere (to anticipate by a happy conjecture; e.g., the enemy’s plans, consilia hostium, Cic.): cogitatione praecipere (e.g., futura, Cic.); opinione praecipere (Caes.): conjicere: conjectare: conjectural assequi or consequi (to arrive at anything by conjectures): To divine anybody’s meaning, etc., ad sensum opinionemque alicujus penetrare (Cic., Partit., 36, 123): that is not easy to ditermine, horum difficilis est conjectura.

divine adj.

divinus (PROP. and IMPROP.): coelestis (heavenly). ☞ If divine is used hyperbolically of a profane object, use the superlative of the words in FINE or BEAUTIFUL; e.g., venustissimus, etc., or by eximius, etc. [Vid: INCOMPARABLE]. Our mind is of divine origin, a Deo animos haustos et libatos habemus; ex divinitate animos haustos et acceptos habemus: divine inspiration, *afflatus or instinctus divinus: by divine inspiration, divinitus (adverb, Cic., Att., 1, 16); *numine or spiritu divino afflatus or instinctus: divine service, deorum (with us, Dei) cultus: to attend divine service, sacris adesse: a divine sentence, divinitus dictum. Vid: HEAVENLY.

divine s.

A theologian, *theologus (θεολόγος; general term): *litterarum sanctarum studiosus (one who studies theology); also rerum divinarum or sacrarum interpres.

A clergyman, sacerdos (general term, for priest): clericus: ecclesiasticus: sacrorum antistes (belonging to the clergy; Eccl.): divines, clerus: clerici: ecclesiastici (Eccl.).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for divine?: The usual Latin words for “divine” are dīvīnō, praesāgiō, praesentiō; also praecipiō, coniectō, assequor. 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.