Latin Language
      The Latin vocabulary for piracy is similar in some respects to the Greek. There are two main words for pirate: praedo, derived from praeda (booty/plunder), which is the one most commonly found in Latin literature, and pirata, which clearly derives from the Greek word peirates (which possibly means 'those who make an attempt'). Praedo is similar to leistes and peirates in that it can mean 'bandit' or 'pirate'. In its earliest usage, in Plautus, it seems to have meant 'mercenary', but it quickly became a synonym for praedo. ³⁹
      Pirates could be differentiated from bandits with the use of an adjective or qualifying phrase, as in this extract from Nepos' Life of Themistokles 2.3: qua celeriter effecta primum Corcyraeos fregit, deinde maritimos praedones consectando mare tutum reddidit ('This being quickly achieved, he first humbled the Corcyraeans, then, by pursuing the pirates, he made the sea safe'). Piracy, or banditry, is usually signified in Latin by the word latrocinium. ⁴⁰ There are no significant controversies or academic debates over the meaning of these Latin words. As with the Greek authors, however, the Latin writers whose works are analyzed... were fully capable of exploiting the wide range of meanings and associations inherent in these words to achieve a suitable literary or rhetorical effect.

39 On latro meaning mercenary, see OLD s.v. latro (1). Both latro and pirata are used to mean pirate in August. De civ. De. 4.4

40 E.g. Livy 37.13.11-12; Cic. II Verr. 1.89.

- Philip de Souza. Piracy in the Graeco-Roman World, p. 13.