Meanings
plural Latiners · alternative latynier · alternative latynere
- historicalSynonym of interpreter.
... alle weys fynden Men Latyneres to go with hem in the Contrees, and ferthere bezonde, in to tyme that Men conne the Langage.
1725, The Voiage and Travaile of Sir John Maundeville, Kt..., page 582 more examples
Latimer is the Corruption of Latiner, it ſignifies he that interprets Latine, and though he interpreted French, Spaniſh, or Italian, he was call'd the King's Latiner, that is, the King's Interpreter.
1689, John Selden, Table-Talk, page 64The Dictionary says that the meanings of the two forms are quite distinct and invariable; that Latiner is, to put it shortly, a Latin scholar, that Latimer is an interpreter, and that Latiner is never used in that sense. In the Hilary term of 34 Henry VI a case was heard to which a foreigner who could not speak our language was a party. He was allowed to engage the services of an interpreter, and that interpreter is plainly written down as a Latiner and not as a Latimer. That is an example of a certain emendation that would have been made in the Dictionary if the Year Books had been consulted.
1925, William Craddock Bolland, A Manual of Year Book Studies, page 104Synonyms: interpreter
- colloquialobsoleteA person who speaks and reads Latin, particularly (historical) an early modern student or scholar.
"But is he not a very good preacher?" "Au aye, beloike he be a goodish preacher, but no Latiner, measter, no Latiner."
1853, Xavier Donald MacLeod, The Bloodstone, page 56Synonyms: Latinophone
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of interpreter.
nounA person who speaks and reads Latin, particularly (historical) an early modern student or scholar.
Origin
- Latinlatinārius
- Old Frenchlatinier
- Anglo-Normanlatimer
- Middle Englishlatyner
- EnglishLatiner
From Middle English latyner, latynier (also latymer), from Anglo-Norman latimer, from Old French latinier, latimier, etc., from Latin latinārius, from lingua Latina + -ārius (“-ary”). Compare Old English Lǣdenware (“a Latin-speaker, Roman”). Doublet of latimer.
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
Latiner. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Latiner
“Latiner.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Latiner. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Latiner,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Latiner.
Source: Latiner on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.