English → Latin
“govern” in Latin
imperōto command, give orders to, impose, demand; to rule, governdominorto be lord and/or master or have dominion, domineer; to dominate, rule, reign, governiungōto join, unite, fasten, yoke, harness, attach; esp. of the hand: to clasp, join; of a treaty or agreement: to join, unit
The English word govern itself goes back to Latin gubernō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
govern v.
TRANS.,
To lead; to rule, imperare, imperitare alicui: alicujus esse imperatorem: imperio regere or imperio tenere aliquem, aliquid (to have the command of anybody or anything): dominari, dominationem habere in aliquem (to exercise an unlimited control over anybody; especially, IMPROP., of inanimate and abstract subjects): praeesse alicui or alicui rei (to be placed over anybody, or at the head of anything). To govern a state, civitatem regere: imperium tractare (to be the ruler, especially with reference to royal or imperial authority); regnare (with collateral notion of arbitrary rule); rempublicam regere or moderari; reipublicae praeesse; clavum reipublicae or imperii, or simply imperium tenere; ad gubernacula reipublicae sedere (to stand or be at the helm): to govern a town, urbem imperio regere: to be governed by anybody, imperio alicujus teneri; teneri in alicujus ditione et potestate; imperium alicujus sustinere; se regi ab aliquo pati (to allow one’s self to be governed).
IMPROPR., To be master of anything, imperare alicui rei: moderari alicui rei (to moderate, to hold in check; e.g., to govern one’s tongue, linguae or orationi): not to be able to govern anything, impotentem esse alicujus rei (e.g., irae): to govern one’s self, sibi imperare; animi potentem esse; animum suum comprimere, coercere; one’s anger, iram reprimere: to govern one’s passions, etc., cupiditatibus imperare (opposed to servire); cupiditates continere, comprimere, coercere, frenare, domare ac frangere. We are governed by our passions, cupiditates dominationem in nos habent: the mind governs the body, animus regit corpus: to be governed by ambition, ambitione teneri.
As grammatical term; jungi or conjungi (cum) aliqua re (i. e., to have a certain case or mood after it; e.g., potior governs the ablative case, potior jungitur, conjungitur (cum) ablativo): recipere aliquid (with regard to the government of words by conjunctions): “ut” governs the subjunctives; “ut” jungitur subjunctivo, or “ut” recipit subjunctiva; “ut” facit poni subjunctivos (all in Grammaticus).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for govern?
- The usual Latin words for “govern” are imperō, dominor, iungō. 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.