English → Latin
“familiar” in Latin
familiārisof or pertaining to servants; of or pertaining to a household or family; familiar, intimate, friendlydomesticusOf the house; domestic; familiar; nativeinteriorinner, interior; nearer; more secret, unknowncommūniscommon, commonplace, ordinary, general, universal, shared, shared alike, of both sides, belonging to two or more togethe
The English word familiar itself goes back to Latin familia, through familiāris.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
familiar
Pertaining to a family; domestic, familiaris: domesticus. (The words are found in this connection and order.) domesticus ac familiaris.
Intimate, familiaris: domesticus: intimus (SYN. in INTIMATE). Anybody’s familiar friend, alicujus or alicui familiaris: familiaris amicus (Plin.): a mast familiar friend, familiarissimus (alicujus): qui est ex alicujus domesticis atque intimis familiaribus (Cic.). [Vid: INTIMATE.]
Intimately known, well-acquainted, familiaris (e.g., hunc, qui familiarior nobis... est. Demosthenem, Cic.; vox auribus meis familiaris, Petronius): bene notus (well-known). ☞ To translate “with which we are familiar,” say qui nobis est familiaris, bene notus, etc.: to be familiar with anything, aliquid mihi familiare or bene notum est: familiariter novi aliquid (Quint.). [Vid: ACQUAINTED.]
Affable, intimate (in manner) with those beneath us, communis (e.g., communis infimis, par principibus, Nep.). [Vid: AFFABLE.] To be familiar with anybody, familiariter loqui cum aliquo (Cic.): familiarius vivere cum aliquo (with reference to the terms on which one lives). [Vid: AFFABLE.]
Simple, not elevated, etc., with reference to style, ad sensum popularem vulgaremque or ad commune judicium popularemque intelligentiam accommodatus (popular; ☞ not popularis or familiaris in this sense, though familiaris interpretatio has been commonly used, and lately even by Orelli): familiariter scriptus (in the style of a friend writing naturally and confidentially to a friend; Cic.).
A familiar spirit, *umbra, quae alicui adest: genius alicujus, or (after Servius’s definition) naturalis deus alicujus.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for familiar?
- The usual Latin words for “familiar” are familiāris, domesticus, interior; also commūnis. 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.