English → Latin
“gall” in Latin
felgall bladder; gall, bile; poisonbīlisbile; anger, gallstomachusgullet, alimentary canal; stomach; taste or distaste (depending on context)commoveōto move something in violent motion, move; shake, stir, shift, agitate; to remove something from somewhere, carry away, bīliōsusbilious (full of bile)fellōsusfull of gallatterōto wear away, rub away; to grind; to chafeterōto rub or triturate; to wear away or wear out, consume; to treadmordeōto bite (into); nibble, gnaw; to nip, sting; to eat, consume, devour, erodepungōto prick; to puncture; to sting
The English word gall itself goes back to Latin galla.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
gall s.
fel (according to Isidor., 11, 1, § 128, PROP. the gall-bladder, or the gall-bladder with the gall; hence it is never used in figurative language for “anger,” but as a figure for bitterness, bitter hatred, and that only in poets; e.g., the heart is full of gall, cor felle litum est, Plaut., True., 1, 2, 76): bilis (the gall, so far as it is found out of the gall-bladder in the guts and stomach, and which, when too abundant, produces disease; Vid: Cic., Tusc., 4, 10, 23; hence it is used, also, in figurative expressions, e.g., bilem alicui movere, commovere): stomachus (PROP., the stomach, and then, since the gall overflows into the stomach in anger and other violent emotions = the seat of sensibility and anger; hence, figuratively = these affections; e.g., stomachum alicui movere, commovere; exarsit aliquis iracundia ac stomacho). Full of gall, biliosus (☞ in later writers, fellosus). More bitter than gall, *felle amarior.
gall v.
Chafe, excoriate, atterere (e.g., femina equitatu): terere († colla labore, Propertius).
IMPROPR., To sting (the mind), etc., mordere (to bite; of the actions, letters, etc., of another person): pungere (to sting): calefacere (to make a person warm, to gall him; of an orator exciting anybody by his reproaches, etc., Cic., in conversational language). Galling (of words or language), mordax († e.g., carmen, Hor.; verum (Persius); aculeatus (stinging); acerbus (bitter). A galling letter, litterae aculeatae: galling jests, asperiores facetiae: galling wit, acerbitas salis: galling words, verborum aculei.
To inflict loss, etc., on troops (military technical term), male habere (e.g., agmen adversariorum, Caes.): vexare (to distress).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for gall?
- The usual Latin words for “gall” are fel, bīlis, stomachus; also commoveō, bīliōsus, fellōsus. 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.