Where does “colonel” come from?
Colonel comes from Middle French coronnel, from Italian colonnello, from Italian colonna meaning column, from Latin columna, from Latin columen meaning top or summit, from Proto-Italic kolamen, from Proto-Indo-European kelH-.
colonel (English): A commissioned officer in an armed military...
Definitions
- A commissioned officer in an armed military...
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 | Forms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |