English → Latin
“illuminate” in Latin
collūstrōto illuminate, brighten; to inspect, surveyillūstrōto illuminate, brighten, light up; to elucidate, explain, make clear; to make famous, render illustriousillūminōto illuminate, light up, brighten; to adorn; to make conspicuoustabulatablet, sometimes a tablet covered with wax for writing; board or plank; map, painting, document or other item put onto imāgōimage, imitation, likeness, statue, representation; ancestral image; ghost, apparition
The English word illuminate itself goes back to Latin in, through illūminātus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
illuminate
collustrare: illustrare: illuminare [not elucidare. SYN. in ENLIGHTEN, Vid:] .
To illuminate a city as a mark of rejoicing, lumina suspendere funalibus ordine ductis (by lights suspended in rows on cords, etc.; Claud, De Nupt. Honor. et Mar., 206): accensas lucernas in fenestris ponere (Schol. Pers., Sat., 5, 180): to be illuminated, collucere crebris luminibus (☞ turris collucet per noctem crebris luminibus, Tac., Hist., 3, 38, 1).
☞ To illuminate, as a mode of painting, is never illuminare, but tabulam or imaginem pingere; tabulae vivos colores inducere; tabulam, imaginem... coloribus distinguere (Krebs).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for illuminate?
- The usual Latin words for “illuminate” are collūstrō, illūstrō, illūminō; also tabula, imāgō. 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.