English → Latin
“oblige” in Latin
alligōto bind to, up or around something, tie, fetter, fasten; bandage; to hold fast, hinder, detain; to oblige, lay under oblobligōto bind in obligation, obligate, make liable; to make guilty; to mortgage, pawnobstringōto bind (by an oath); to oblige; to bind, tie or fetterdēvinciōto bind fast, tie up; to subjugate; to oblige, constrain
The English word oblige itself goes back to Latin ligō, through obligo.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
oblige
To compel, aliquem vi cogere; [Vid: COMPEL].
To bind (by a stipulation, duly, favor, etc), alligare, obligare, obstringere, devincire. The law obliges anyone, lex tenet aliquem. To be obliged to the observance of a treaty, foedere alligatum or illigatum esse. To oblige a man by an oath, aliquem sacramento adigere. To oblige one’s self to do a thing, se obligare alicui rei (or with ut); se obstringere in aliquid (by oath, sacramento; to a crime, in scelus). I am obliged to do this, hoc meum est.
To confer a favor upon, beneficium in aliquem conferre: to oblige one greatly, gratissimum, pergratum, percommode alicui facere: you cannot oblige me more than by, etc., hoc mihi gratius facere nihil potes; nihil est, quod gratius mihi facere possis: you will oblige me greatly by (or if you, etc.), gratum (gratissimum) mihi feceris, si, etc.; magnum beneficium mihi dederis, si, etc.: I am very much obliged to you, gratissimum illud mihi fecisti; magnum in me contulisti beneficium: to be greatly obliged to one, multum debere alicui; multa beneficia ab illo in me profecta, collata sunt (after Cic.): readiness to oblige, officium; officiosa voluntas; gratificandi liberalis voluntas; comitas (courteous and kind behavior toward inferiors): to show all readiness to oblige anybody, omni officiorum genexe aliquem prosequi; summa alicui studia impertire.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for oblige?
- The usual Latin words for “oblige” are alligō, obligō, obstringō; also dēvinciō. 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.