English → Latin
“inscribe” in Latin
īnscrībōto write in or upon something, inscribe; furnish with an inscription, give a title to a book; to ascribe, assign, attribīnsculpōto carve in or upon; to engraveincidōto fall or drop; to fall upon, meet, come upon (by chance), happen on, fall in with; to fall upon, attack, assault
The English word inscribe itself goes back to Latin scrībō, through īnscrībō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
inscribe
inscribere (on anything, in aliqua re; ☞ never in aliquid. In Cic., Arch., 2, 26, some manuscripts have in illis libellis; some illis libellis, which Stürenburg adopts [against Matth.., Klotz, etc.] , without sufficient grounds [e.g., vestris monumentis nomen suum inscripsit, Har., Resp., 27]. To inscribe anything; e.g., one’s name, in a book, is never in libro or in librum inscribere, but in librum referre; in libro litteris consignare, etc.: inscribere is also used of an inscription on statues, etc.; Krebs): insculpere (to inscribe on a material in which the letters are cut; to carve or engrave; on anything, alicui rei; e.g., aliquid saxo; elogium tumulo): incidere (= “to cut into,” anything on brass, aliquid in aes or in aere: more common than insculpere; both Cic.; in aliqua re, the more common; in columnā aeneā, in tabulā, in sepulcro, etc.). Inscribed in very large letters, maximis litteris incisus (e.g., in basi statuarum).
IMPROPR. To inscribe on the mind, inscribere aliquid in animo (e.g., orationes, Cic.): insculpere aliquid in mentibus (Cic.; of a natural belief written on our hearts by God). To inscribe a book to anybody; Vid: “To DEDICATE a book to anybody.”
To inscribe a mathematical figure in another, inscribere or includere (in aliqua re).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for inscribe?
- The usual Latin words for “inscribe” are īnscrībō, īnsculpō, incidō. 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.