English → Latin
“paper” in Latin
chartapapyrus, paper; a piece of papyrus or paper; a piece of writing, especially a letter, poem, or charterdēnsusdense, compact; crowded, close; frequentcandidusshining white; clear, bright; fair, beautifulscrībōto writelevigōto make light, lightenexōrnōto equip, furnish, supply, provide; to adorn, embellish
The English word paper itself goes back to Latin papȳrus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
paper s.
Substance on which we write and print, charta (with the ancients, made from the papyrus: *chartea lintea was an invention of the 14th century): ☞ papyrus, in this sense, is poetical: charta tenuis (thin): densa (thick): candida (white): glazed paper, charta levis, levigata; with the ancients, charta dentata (Cic., Quint., Fr., 2, 15): blotting-paper, charta bibula: letter-paper, *charta epistolaris (as Inscript. to Mart., 14, 11: the ancients used charta Augusta): *charta epistolis scribendis facta: packing-paper, charta emporetica: large paper, charta major; charta majore modulo; macrocollum (in the ancient sense): small paper, charta brevior; charta breviore forma: a quire of paper, scapus chartae: a sheet of paper, plagula chartae: a piece of paper, chartula; scida, scidula (better than scheda, schedula): of paper, chartaceus; charteus: a paper-mill, officina chartaria: a paper-maker, chartarius: paper money, *pecunia chartacea; or, in the sense of the ancients, tesserae numariae (Suet., Oct., 41): to put paper cover on a book, to bind in paper, *librum charta glutinata or massa chartacea vincire, includere. The different kinds of paper with the ancients were charta hieratica, Augusta, Liviana, Claudia; the charta Claudia was the best.
A written document, charta; scriptum: papers, i. e., writings, scripta (plur.); litterae; libelli; chartae: a paper war, *bellum doctorum hominum: contemptuously, rixae doctorum hominum (☞ pugna doctorum hominum = contradictions of learned men; Vid: Cic., De Div., 2, 31, in.).
Newspaper, Vid.
paper v.
*charta or chartis vestire, exornare, aliquid.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for paper?
- The usual Latin words for “paper” are charta, dēnsus, candidus; also scrībō, levigō, exōrnō. 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.