LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
English → Latin

“forge” in Latin

The English word forge itself goes back to Latin faber, through fabrica.

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

forge s.
fornax (furnace). A smith’s forge, fabri officina; officina ferraria.
forge v.
To make by hammering, etc.: fabricari (general term for manufacturing): procudere (to shape by hammering, etc.; e.g., a sword, gladium): tundere (to beat, hammer, etc.; e.g., ferrum): fingere (to form, to make).
To counterfeit; e.g., documents, etc., tabulas corrumpere or vitiare (general term): tabulas interpolare (by erasing words or letters, and writing others in their place): tabulas interlinere (by smearing out words with the stylus reversed); (The words are found in this connection and order.) tabulas corrumpere atque interlinere: tabulas transcribere (to falsify in copying, to counterfeit). To forge anybody’s handwriting, chirographum alicujus imitari (Cic., N.D., 3, 30, 74). To forge a will or testament, testamentum interpolare, or interlinere, or transcribere (with the difference above explained); testamentum subjicere, supponere, subdere (to put a forged will in the place of the genuine one): to forge money, nummos adulterinos percutere (after Suet., Ner., 25); monetam adulterinam exercere (to be an habitual forger of it; Ulp., Dig.); nummum falsa, fusione formare (of debased coin; Cod. Theod., 9, 21, 3): forged coin, nummus adulterinus (opposed to nummus bonus): forged, ficticius (general term, not genuine); subditus; subditicius; suppositus (substituted for the genuine one; e.g., of a testament); falsus (false; e.g., litterae). (The words are found in this connection and order.) falsus et corruptus (Cic.); falsus et ab aliquo vitiatus (Liv.).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for forge?
The usual Latin words for “forge” are fornāx, fabricor, prōcūdō; also tundō, fingō, gladius. 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.