English → Latin
“observe” in Latin
conveniōto convene, assemble, gather, meet or come together; to accost, to call on; to sue, to let be summoned to courtcōnsentiōto agree, accord, harmonize; to unite upon; to plot or conspirecōnsēnsiōagreement, consent, harmony, unanimity; plot, conspiracyconcentussinging, a blending of voices in harmony; a choir; a concordant acclamation of the peopleet cēteraet cetera, and the rest, and so on: used to note that the rest of a list or piece of information continues in a similar aucuporto go bird-catching or fowling; to catch or take bees; to chase, strive for; to be on the lookout, lie in wait or watch captōto strive to seize, catch or grasp at; to seek, aim atvēnorto chase, hunt, pursue game/quarry; to strive for, or pursue any objective, whether concrete or abstract in naturequaerōto seek, look for; to ask, question, seek or search for a thing, inquire, query, interrogate; to strive for; endeavor; splaudōto strike, beat, clap; to applaud; to clap one's hands in token of approbation; to approve
The English word observe itself goes back to Latin servus, through observō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
observe
conventus in this meaning only in Sen., N. Quaest., 7, 12, 3, conventus duarum stellarum.
Agreement, convenientia (cum aliqua re): consensus: consensio: concentus.
“By a lucky coincidence,” etc. by circumlocution with peropportune cadit; percommode accidit.
observe
nuptiis ambire is used of parents making proposals of marriage to a person; e.g., to one considered a good match (Tac., Germ., 18; ☞ connubiis ambire, Verg.): to court avaricious widows, venari viduas avaras.
Endeavour to obtain, aucupari (e.g., gratiam alicujus; studium ac favorem populi); captare (e.g., plausus, misericordiam, favorem populi): venari (e.g., laudem): quaerere.
observe
For creep on all fours; creep forth, into, up, down, etc., [Vid: CRAWL].
Move along slowly; [Vid: CRAWL = “move slowly”].
FIG., (α) To travel slowly, repere: reptare. (β) To move stealthily, obrepere (Vid: above). To creep into anybody’s friendship, se insinuare in alicujus familiaritatem: ad alicujus amicitiam arrepere: into anybody’s affection, favor, etc., irrepere in alicujus mentem: arrepere alicujus animo: influere in alicujus animum: into anybody’s friendship, by flattery, or (Prov.) to creep up anybody’s sleeve, blanditiis et assentationibus alicujus amicitiam coliigere, or in alicujus consuetudinem se immergere: to endeavor to creep into anybody’s favor by flattery, assentatiuncula aucupari alicujus gratiam; also, humiliter servire or servire only (of mean subserviency; Vid: Liv., 24, 25; Cic., Parad., 5, -2, 39): vice creeps into the heart of men under the appearance of virtue, vitia nobis obrepunt sub virtutis nomine (Sen., Ep., 45, 6).
observe
To watch, servare, observare (general term): asservare (to watch carefully): animadvertere (to give heed or attention to): spectare, contemplari (to look about quietly for the purpose of observation): considerare (to view or contemplate; e.g., sidera, Gell., 2, 21): custodire (to watch, guard, a person): speculari (to look out for): speculari et custodire aliquem: to observe the course of the stars, observare [Moser, Orell., observitare, Cic., Div., 1, 1, 2] motus stellarum: to observe lightning, servare de caelo (of an augur): to observe the rising of a constellation, servare ortum sideris: to observe anybody’s behavior, observare quemadmodum aliquis se gerat: to observe the enemy, hostium consilia speculari (to endeavor to find out his plans): quae ab hostibus agantur, cognoscere (to watch): hostium itinera servare (to note the march of an enemy).
To follow, attend to, observare (e.g., leges, Cic.; praeceptum, Caes.): parere (to obey).
To say, remark, dicere (to say): docere (to teach): to observe this, ut hoc addam: to observe only one thing, ut alia omittam (to pass by all other things). ☞ Avoid the expression so commonly used by annotators, ut monet, for ut ait, ut docet, ut annotavit, ut est apud; ut monet is not Latin.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for observe?
- The usual Latin words for “observe” are conveniō, cōnsentiō, cōnsēnsiō; also concentus, et cētera, aucupor. 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.