LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
English → Latin

“engrave” in Latin

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

engrave
scalpere: sculpere (according to some, scalpere, with its compounds, is applied to coarse and rude; sculpere, with its compounds, to finished work: others think that scalpere is to cut into the material, as in intaglios; sculpere to produce raised figures, as in cameos; Vid: Dict. Antiqq., p. 860. ☞ CARVE): incidere: insculpere (with the graving tool; hence, also figuratively, to “engrave” on the mind): scribere: inscribere (to engrave words; an inscription). To engrave anything on brass, on a pillar, incidere aliquid in aes [or in aere, Cic., Verr., 2, 4, 65], in columna. (The words are found in this connection and order.) incidere et perscribere; incidere ac notare (Cic.; of what is to serve as a record, etc.); on a tomb, incidere aliquid in sepulcro (Cic.), sepulcro (Hor.); on a tree, inscribere aliquid arbori; describere aliquid in cortice (Verg.): to engrave gems, gemmas scalpere (Plin.); a seal, sigillum scalpere (Plin.); a ring, on the stone of which an anchor was engraved, annulus, in cujus gemma anchora sculpta est. Alexander would not allow his likeness to be engraved on gems by anybody but Pyrgoteles, Alexander edicto vetuit, in gemma se ab alio scalpi quam a Pyrgotele. It is engraven, as it were, on the minds of all men, that, etc., omnibus quasi insculptum est, etc. (accusative and infinitive.)
In the modern sense of engraving prints, in aes incidere; simulacrum alicujus rei in aes incidere.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for engrave?
The usual Latin words for “engrave” are scalpō, sculpō, incidō; also īnsculpō, scrībō, īnscrībō. 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.