Where does “Colonel” come from?
Colonel (English) comes from Middle French coronnel, from Italian colonnello, from Italian -ello, from Latin -ellus, from Latin -ulus, from Proto-Italic -olos, from Proto-Italic -elos, from Proto-Indo-European -e-lós — Forms agent nouns from verbal roots.
Colonel (English): The military officer title
Definitions
- The military officer title
Ancestry of “Colonel”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle French | coronnel | colonel; a middle-ranking military officer |
| 2 | Italian | colonnello | colonel |
| 3 | Italian | -ello | Alterative suffix used to form... |
| 4 | Latin | -ellus | Alternative form of -ulus; "forming masculine... |
| 5 | Latin | -ulus | Used to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating... |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -olos | — |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -elos | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |