English → Latin
“van” in Latin
frōnsthe forehead, brow, front; the brow or countenance as an indicator of the feelings; as the mirror of a person's charactepraecursorforerunner, vanguard; spyvannusa winnowing basketventilābrumwinnowing fork or shovel
The English word van itself goes back to Latin vannus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
van
Front of an army, primum agmen (opposed to extremum agmen; or primi agminis cohortes; opposed to extremi agminis cohortes: on a march): frons (in battle): ☞ not antecursores or antecursores agminis in this sense; nor praecursores. To form the van with the cavalry, cum equitatu antecedere.
A winnowing-fan, vannus, ventilabrum.
A kind of vehicle; Vid: CARRIAGE.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for van?
- The usual Latin words for “van” are frōns, praecursor, vannus; also ventilābrum. 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.