Where does “Cologne” come from?
Cologne (French) comes from Old French Cologne, from Latin colōnia, from Latin colōnus, from Latin colō, from Latin quelō, from Proto-Italic kʷelō, from Proto-Indo-European kʷéleti, from Proto-Indo-European kʷel- — to turn.
Ancestry of “Cologne”, step by step
Cologne traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Old French Cologne
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | Cologne | — |
| 2 | Latin | colōnia | A colony, settlement |
| 3 | Latin | colōnus | farmer, especially a kind of tenant farmer or sharecropper; husbandman; tiller of the soil |
| 4 | Latin | colō | to cultivate the land, till, tend, take care of a field or garden |
| 5 | Latin | quelō | — |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | kʷelō | to inhabit |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷéleti | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷel- | to turn |
via Latin Colōnia Agrippīna
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | Colōnia Agrippīna | Cologne, Agrippine Colony; city on the Rhine River in Germany, founded by Agrippina, the mother of the Roman emperor Nero |