English → Latin
“historian” in Latin
scrīptorwriter, author; scribeauctorseller, vendor; author, originator; sponsor, advocaterēsthing, object, stuff; matter, issue, subject, topic; affair, event
The English word historian itself goes back to Latin historia.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
historian
historiarum scriptor: scriptor, with or without rerum, or rerum gestarum: rerum explicator: rerum gestarum pronunciator (so far as he arranges, writes down, or relates facts and occurrences): rerum antiquarum scriptor (as describing the affairs of times long past): auctor, with and without rerum, or rerum gestarum (so far as he is used or quoted as authority): ☞ historicus denotes rather a person who devotes himself to historical pursuits, a render or investigator of history, who, however, may also be a writer of history; ☞ Top., 20, 78; Nep., Alcib., 11, 1: ☞ not historiographus. An historian of great name or accuracy, auctor gravissimus: an historian of no authority, of no great accuracy, auctor levis nec satis fldus: the earlier historians, priores (Vid: Walch, Tac., Agric., 10, 1, p. 178): the old historians, scriptores veteres or antiqui; (from context), veteres or antiqui only [SYN. in ANCIENT]: future historians, historiarum futuri scriptores.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for historian?
- The usual Latin words for “historian” are scrīptor, auctor, rēs. 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.