English → Latin
“string” in Latin
līneaA linen thread.līnumflax; linen cloth; garment made of linen; rope, line, string, thread, cord, cablefūniculusa slender rope, cordchordatripe, intestine (as food); catgut, string of a musical instrument; rope, cord for binding a slavenervusa cord, string, thong or wire; the leather with which shields were covered; a fiberlabōto totter, wobble; to waver or decline; to slip past, slide by, glide byfidēsfaith; belief (belief without empirical evidence, direct experience, or observation); reliance (act of relying on or truresticulacord, line (thin rope)margarītapearl; a term of endearment
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
string s.
A thread, line, cord, linea: linum: funiculus (a little rope, Plin.). Proverbially. To have two strings to one’s bow, duobus sellis sedere (Laber., ap. Sen., Controv., 3, 18, fin.)
Of a musical instrument, chorda (χορδή), or in pure Latin fides (but fides is always used in the plur. = “the strings,” except Cic., Fin., 4, 27, 75, and in poetry): nervus (νεῦρον, sτρινγ of animal sinews or gut). Τo touch the chords, nervos tangere.
string v.
inserere lino (to put on a thread; e.g., margaritas, Tert., Hab., Mul., 9): resticulam or resticulas perserere per, etc. (to put a cord or string through anything, in order to hang it up; e.g., resticulas per ficos maturas perserere, Varr., R.R., 1, 41, 5): nervo, nervis aptare (to put a string or strings to a musical instrument). A stringed instrument, fides, -ium, plur.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for string?
- The usual Latin words for “string” are līnea, līnum, fūniculus; also chorda, nervus, labō. 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.