Asportaverunt

Asportaverunt is a Latin verb form meaning “they carried away” or “they carried off.” It is the perfect active indicative of asportare, a verb formed from portare with a separative prefix a- that conveys removal.

In usage, asportare means to carry away, remove, seize, abduct, or transport away. Consequently asportaverunt can express military plunder, confiscation, or abduction in contexts ranging from narrative prose to legal Latin. For example: “Hostes asportaverunt pecuniam e castris” (The enemies carried away the money from the camp). The specific sense is determined by context.

Historical note: the term has given rise to the English noun asportation, meaning the act of carrying away or removing. In Latin dictionaries, asportaverunt is listed as the third-person plural perfect indicative active of asportare; the verb appears frequently in classical authors and in medieval Latin.