transferre

Transferre is a Latin verb meaning to bring across, carry over, transfer, or convey from one place or context to another. It covers both physical movement and more abstract transfers, such as the transfer of ownership, responsibility, or information. In classical Latin, the term appears in a variety of domains, including law, philosophy, theology, and everyday discourse.

Etymology and scope: The word is built from the prefix trans- “across” and ferre “to bear, to carry.” It yields related Latin forms and derivatives such as translatio (a translation or transfer of something to another form or place) and transitus (a passage or crossing). In English, transfer is the direct descendant, while translate most directly retains the sense of “carrying across” in a linguistic sense.

Conjugation and principal parts: Transferre is a verb of the third conjugation, with the present infinitive transferre. The typical principal parts are transfero, transferre, transtuli, translatum. The perfect passive participle is translatus (or, in certain constructions, translatum acts as a passive participial form). These forms are used to construct compound tenses and participial phrases in Latin prose.

Usage and examples: In Latin texts, transferre can describe moving a physical object, transferring property, or transferring duties and obligations. It also appears in religious and rhetorical contexts to denote the transfer of relics or ideas, as well as in technical language describing the transfer of data, rights, or authority.

See also: Translatio, transitus, translated terms in ecclesiastical and legal Latin. The English cognate transfer ultimately derives from this verb.