Latin word for pray?
Orare originally meant simply "to speak" (related to the noun os, oris, "mouth"), but even in Classical Latin this literal meaning was obsolete, being replaced by "to argue, to plead." In a secular context, it became the root of the word orator, which meant the same in Latin as it does in English. In a religious context, it took on the meaning "to pray", which is how it is (or was) used in the Latin liturgy of the Catholic Church.