English → Latin
“strait” in Latin
fretumstrait, sound, estuary, channel.; the seas.; turmoileurīpusnarrow channel, strait; canal, conduit, aqueduct; the water-filled trench that ran around the track of the Roman circus artusnarrow; close; fitted; confined; dense; severe; strict; scanty; briefCimmeriusCimmerianHerculeusof or pertaining to Hercules
The English word strait itself goes back to Latin stringō, through strictus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
strait s.
A narrow part of the sea, fretum: euripus (the former the common and pure Latin word; the latter borrowed from the Greek; with the Greeks and Romans, also especially the straits between Euboea and Boeotia, now Golfo di Negroponte): fauces angustae or artae (a narrow channel); sometimes bosporus (e.g., bosporus Thracius, Cimmerius). The straits of Gibraltar, fretum Gaditanum or Herculeum.
Difficulty, Vid: STRAIT-WAISTCOAT, to put in a strait-waistcoat, constringere aliquem (Cic.). Ought not you to have a strait-waistcoat put on you? tu mentis es compos? tu non constringendus? (Cic., Phil., 2, 38, 97).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for strait?
- The usual Latin words for “strait” are fretum, eurīpus, artus; also Cimmerius, Herculeus. 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.