English → Latin
“ignorance” in Latin
ignōrōto not know; to be unacquainted with; to be ignorant of; to ignore, disregardignōrātiōignoranceīnscītiaignorance, inexperience, unskilfulness; awkwardness, stupidity, stolidityīnscientiaignorance; inexperienceobservōto observe, watch, pay attention to; to guard, keep watch over; to heed, regard, respect
The English word ignorance itself goes back to Latin ignōrō, through ignōrantia.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
ignorance
ignorantia: ignoratio (Cic. uses ignorantia once absolutely with temeritas, opinatio, etc., Acad., 1, 11; and as a blameable ignorance, Cic., Flacc., 20, 46, ignorantia litterarum [stronger than ignoratio, Reisig] is considered by Klotz an interpolation: Caes. has ignorantia loci [for which Cic. ignoratio locorum, and Caes., in another place, inscientia locorum]: ignoratio is very common in Cic., but only with genitive of the object): inscitia: inscientia (inscitia, from inscitus, is rather the want of skill, dexterity, etc., arisirig from want of practical knowledge: Reisig held that it could not be followed by the objective genitive of a substantive, but naturally might with genitive of gerund. He excepts Horace, who could not get inscientia into his verse: he is also forced to alter inscitia rerum, De Orat., 1, 22, 99; and inscitia temporis, De Off., 1, 40, 144. Livy has both temeritas atque inscientia ducum and temeritas atque inscitia: Velleius Paterculus, inscitia nostrorum ducum. Against Reisig is inscitia belli, though this may = belli gerendi, and inscitia temporis, which cannot well be explained temporis legendi or observandi. Tac. has inscitia legionum, reipublicae, etc.: Suet., inscitia artis, where, however, it may denote want of skill; Pliny, temporum; Quintilian, rerum verboramque; Vid: Hase ad Reisig, p. 118). Ignorance of the truth, ignoratio veritatis (Cic.). To confess one’s ignorance, fateri nescire, quod nescias: to confess one’s ignorance on many subjects, confiteri multa se ignorare: through ignorance, ignoratione (but only with genitive of the thing) [Vid: IGNORANTLY]. Anybody has not even the excuse of ignorance, alicui ne excusatio quidem est ignorantiae.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for ignorance?
- The usual Latin words for “ignorance” are ignōrō, ignōrātiō, īnscītia; also īnscientia, observō. 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.