# What does "tiger hunt" translate to in Latin?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-tiger-hunt-translate-to-in-latin/825975>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 12, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-tiger-hunt-translate-to-in-latin/825975 "2018-12-12T01:29:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
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**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-tiger-hunt-translate-to-in-latin/825975/1 "2018-12-12T01:29:52Z")

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Can anybody here tell me what the phrase “tiger hunt” (that is, a hunt for tigers) translates to in Latin? Someone I know is making a logo and wants to put that phrase in Latin on it. They were going to put “tigris venari” on it, but that’s not right, I think. “Venari” is the verb “hunt”, not the noun. I think the words should be reversed too. Can anyone tell the the translation? Please, don’t just look the words up in a dictionary or try to recall the Latin you took decades ago or use an online translator. Tell me where your knowledge of Latin comes from. It’s important I get this correct.

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**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-tiger-hunt-translate-to-in-latin/825975/2 "2018-12-12T02:03:15Z")

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In Livy’s _History of Rome_, Book 39, Chapter 22, he mentions “venatio… leonum et pantherarum”. Therefore, speaking of tigers, your phrase is “venatio tigrium”

ETA one should not hunt tigers; I’d like to think the human race has moved beyond the need for such spectacles

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-tiger-hunt-translate-to-in-latin/825975/3 "2018-12-12T18:17:06Z")

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_Tigris_ is one of those words that different classical authors declined differently. The genitive singular could be _tigris_ or _tigridis_. So “a hunt for a tiger” could be _venatio tigris_ or _venatio tigridis_. “A hunt for tigers” could be _venatio tigrium_ or _venatio tigridum_.

The name of the animal can come before or after the word _venatio_. A Google search suggests, for example, that _cervorum venatio_ is slightly more common than _venatio cervorum_ (both mean “hunting for [plural] deer”).

Now I’m wondering what Livy had to say about “Shh! Be vewy, vewy quiet; I’m hunting wabbits.”