English → Latin
“matter” in Latin
corpusbody, person (person when used to mean "human body", e.g., "on one's person"); substance, material (physical, perceptiblmāteriamatter; material; component stuff; substance; timber; source, originargūmentumargument (as in an argument for a position); evidence, a proof; a point, a theme; a topic, thesisquaestiōproblem; seeking, search; inquiry, investigation, questioning, questionlocusplace (referring to a specific location); a passage of literature; opportunity; cause; occasion; groundsnegōtiumbusiness, employment, occupation, affair; difficulty, pains, trouble, labor; matter, thing (= πρᾶγμα (prâgma))causacause, reason; case, claim, contention; cause, judicial process, lawsuitcūracare, concern, thought; pains, industry, diligence, exertion; anxiety, grief, sorrowoccāsiōoccasion, opportunity; kairos, the right time, the favorable moment, the opportune momentānsahandle; tiller (handle of the rudder)
The English word matter itself goes back to Latin māter, through māteria.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
matter s.
Body, substance extended, corpus.
Materials, materia [Vid: MATERIALS].
Subject, thing treated, argumentum; quaestio; locus; e.g., magnus locus philosophiaeque proprius (Cic., Div. 2, 1, 3).
Affair, business, res; negotium (business): causa (a suit at law, then business, general term): cura (cure of any business or office): an important or weighty matter, res major: a small or trifling matter, res minuta or parva: public matter, publicae res; res publica: to look after his domestic matters, res domesticas dispensare: anything is a difficult or hard matter, aliquid difficile est: to read them is a matter of incredible trouble, in eis legendis incredibilis quaedam molestia exhaurienda est: what is the matter? quid (quidnam) est? quid accidit?
Cause, occasion, causa; occasio; materia; ansa.
Substance generated in a swelling, pus (white and viscous matter, PROP. so called): sanies (matter mixed with blood, unripe matter): full of matter, purulentus: to turn to matter, to form matter, in pus verti; to ripen matter, pus maturare: to excite or generate matter, pus movere.
matter v.
i. e., to import, alicujus momenti esse: if matters much, little, hoc multum, non multum (☞ not parum), magni, parvi refert or interest: that matter s nothing, id nihil refert: that matters everything, in eo omnia vertuntur; hoc caput rei est; inde omnia pendent: it matters, interest, refert (interest with a genitive, denotes the interest which one has in anything; refert, the importance which one attributes to a thing). ☞ Here observe the following rules; (a) the person to whom a thing matters is put in the genitive; but of the personal pronoun we find the ablatives, mea, tua, nostra, vestra; e.g., it matters to me, mea interest or refert [Vid: translator’s note on Zumpt, § 449]. But refert, in the Golden Age, takes only the ablative, never the genitive, of a substantive; frequently, however, interest and refert are used absolutely: (b) that which matters is expressed by an infinitive, or, by circumlocution, with an accusative and infinitive, or by an, quis, quid, ubi, quando, ut, ne, etc.; e.g., multum interest, te venire (Cic.); quid illius interest, ubi sis? (Cic.); illud mea magni interest, te ut videam (Cic.); (c) how much? is expressed sometimes by the adverbs magnopere, magis, maxime, minime, multum, permultum, plurimum, nihil, etc.: sometimes by a genitive of value; as, magni, permagni, parvi, pluris, tanti, quanti, etc.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for matter?
- The usual Latin words for “matter” are corpus, māteria, argūmentum; also quaestiō, locus, negōtium. 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.