'laticlave' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'laticlavus' (also attested as 'laticlavius'), where 'latus' meant 'broad' and 'clavus' meant 'nail' or (by extension) 'stripe' or 'band'.

'laticlave' derives from the Latin term 'laticlavus' used in imperial Rome to describe the broad purple stripe; the term passed into medieval and later scholarly use and was borrowed into English as a learned term referring to the stripe or those who bore it.

Initially it referred concretely to the 'broad stripe' on official clothing; over time the term also came to denote the wearer of that stripe (a senator) or describe things relating to that insignia.