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Etymology and origin of the Latin word latro

Latin has two common words spelled latro: the verb lātrō “to bark” and the noun latrō “mercenary, robber”, which differ in the length of the first vowel.[1][2]

latro1 bark

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
204–169 BC, Ennius
Inherited from
Proto-Italic *lātrom
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*leh₂-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɫaː.troː][3]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈlaː.tro][3]

Forms

lātrō (present infinitive lātrāre, perfect active lātrāvī, supine lātrātum); first conjugation[3]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Proto-Italic *lātrom, from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂- (“to bark, howl”), an expressive root.[3] The TLL takes it as a verb made from a lost noun in ⟨-tro-⟩ or ⟨-tra-⟩, as lāmentor was made from lāmenta, and places the root beside Slavonic, Lithuanian and Albanian verbs for barking.[4] The OLD and Wiktionary compare lāmentum (“wailing”);[1][3] Wiktionary adds Ancient Greek λάσκω (láskō, “to crack, shout”) and λῆρος (lêros, “nonsense”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius uses it of a bitch that barks without teeth (quasi fēta canēs sine dentibus lātrat), and Plautus has etiam mē meae lātrant canēs?, “are even my own dogs barking at me?”.[1][5]

Semantic evolution

Lātrō is the barking and baying of dogs, also of the cries of some birds and the roar of waves (Virgil).[1] Used of people it is to cry out like a hound on the scent, and to bawl in speaking: Cicero says some orators “bark rather than speak”.[1][6] Horace has the “barking” (craving) stomach, and Lucretius nature that “clamours” for nothing else, so it also means to make insistent demands.[1]

Döderlein contrasts lātrāre, the hostile bark of a large dog and figuratively “to wrangle”, with gannīre, the harmless yelp of a small dog, “to chatter”, and baubārī, “to howl”.[7] Church Latin glosses it “bark”.[8]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius: quasi fēta canēs sine dentibus lātrat.[1][5]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: etiam mē meae lātrant canēs?.[1][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of orators who bark rather than speak.[1][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of waves roaring round a rock.[1][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (of dogs) To bark, bay.[1][6][8]
  2. (of waves) To roar.[1]
  3. To bark at.[1]
  4. To cry out (like a hound on the scent); to bawl, rant.[1][6]
  5. To make insistent demands, clamour (for).[1]

Word family

  • allātrō
  • circumlatrō
  • collātrō
  • ēlātrō
  • illātrō
  • oblātrō
  • lātrābilis
  • lātrātor
  • lātrātus
  • lātrātōrius

latro2 robber

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
204–169 BC, Ennius
From
Ancient Greek λάτρον
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (λάτρον)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɫa.troː], [ˈɫat.roː][3]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈlaː.tro], [ˈlat.ro][3]

Forms

latrō m (genitive latrōnis); third declension[3]

Etymology

The robber was first a hired soldier, and the word is probably from Ancient Greek λάτρον (látron, “pay, wages”).[1][4] The OLD derives it from an unattested Greek ⟨*látrōn⟩, comparing λατρεύς (latreús, “hired servant”);[1] the TLL gives the choice between a Greek ⟨*látrēs⟩ “mercenary” and a Latin noun ⟨*latrum⟩ “pay”, from which it would be formed as praedō is from praeda.[4] Lewis & Short and Köbler compare λάτρις (látris, “hired servant”);[6][5] Köbler and Wiktionary also mention Proto-Indo-European *leh₂t- (“to grant, possess”), and Wiktionary calls the origin disputed.[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius uses it of mercenaries: fortūnās … suās coepēre latrōnēs inter sē memorāre, “the hired soldiers began to talk among themselves of their fortunes”.[1][5] Plautus still has the sense: ut latrōnēs quōs condūxī hinc ad Seleucum dūcere (“to lead the mercenaries I hired to Seleucus”).[1] Lewis & Short note that the sense “hireling, mercenary” is only pre-classical.[6]

Semantic evolution

From the soldier serving for pay the word came to mean a brigand, robber or bandit: Cicero cites the Twelve Tables, which forbid killing a thief “that is, a robber and bandit” by day.[1] It was a term of abuse (Cicero, of Antony), was used with a genitive for a plunderer, and was applied to predatory animals such as the wolf in Phaedrus and to a hunter lying in wait.[1] In Ovid and Martial a latrō is a piece in a board game.[1] Latrō was also a Roman cognomen, borne by the rhetorician Marcus Porcius Latro, a friend of the elder Seneca.[1][6]

In Church Latin it is the robber or thief;[8] medieval Latin also uses it for criminal jurisdiction over theft and robbery, and for a demon.[9]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of mercenaries.[1][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a robber in the Twelve Tables.[1][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a piece in a board game.[1][5]
  • c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus calls the wolf latrō.[1][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A hired soldier, mercenary.[1][6]
  2. A brigand, robber, bandit; also a term of abuse, a plunderer.[1][6][8]
  3. A beast of prey; a hunter in ambush.[1]
  4. A piece in a board game.[1]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A thief; jurisdiction over theft and robbery; a demon.[9]

Word family

  • latrōcinālis
  • latrōcinātiō
  • latrunculārius
  • lāmentum
  • praedō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Latro.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/latro. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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