>over 20 words for "kill", all with very subtle differences in meaning concerning the manner of the killing.

Don't know much about Latin, but this got me thinking about how many English might have.

As far as ones that don't necessarily care much about the method that kills you, but may have different shades of "why"...
kill
slay
slaughter
murder
butcher
execute
lynch
snuff

And then there are the ones that are attached to a specific means of death, and may not always imply death, but can mean "kill by this method"...
behead
decapitate (Why do we have two words for cut someone's head off?)
electrocute
poison
hang
stone
drown
burn
choke
strangle
suffocate
exsanguinate

...well, there's 20. I wouldn't be surprised if I missed some.