A word for form

Question

What would be a good Latin word for "form"? I mean the word in the sense it has in "To order our new Latin language product, please fill in this online form". I was unable to find this sense of the word in online dictionaries.

I assume the English word is derived from the Latin forma, but that fact alone is not sufficiently convincing evidence to me that that is the best word to use. Many languages seem to use something that looks like formularium, and some have something resembling *blancus.

I don't know if the Romans had anything like forms. Whether or not there is any classical precedent, I'm looking for something that could work well in modern use like the example sentence above.

Answer 1

According to the Morgan and Silva Furman University Lexicon, you have two options for the entry "form (document with blanks to fill in)":

• formula -ae f.
• schida formularia

Now, schida formularia is specifically marked as a modern word (after 1400 AD), and formula is obviously classical in origin, and there is evidence in Livy that suggests it had a similar meaning to the modern one in classical times.

These entries were found in the first part of the Lexicon, and are generally considered more reliable. However, there were some additional entries in the second part:

• formularium
• folium interrogativum+
• interrogatorium++
• quaestionarium

+Modern (post 1400)

++Medieval (700-1400)

The last three reference more of a questionnaire style form, so that could also be useful if that difference needs to be made. There are further entries under "form (document)." I do not believe, however, that these are what you are looking for.

• exemplar typis descriptum
• specimen
• typus
• norma

Finally, the verb "to fill out a form":

• schedulam explere
• formulam explere

Presumably the second one would be more applicable.

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Several of these links are supposed to take you to the page at which the entries can be found in the PDF, but if it does not work I apologize.