Where does “eau de Cologne” come from?
eau de Cologne (French) comes from French Cologne, 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 — to turn.
eau de Cologne (French): cologne
Definitions
- cologne
Ancestry of “eau de Cologne”, step by step
eau de Cologne traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via French Cologne
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | Cologne | — |
| 2 | Old French | Cologne | — |
| 3 | Latin | colōnia | A colony, settlement |
| 4 | Latin | colōnus | farmer, especially a kind of tenant farmer or sharecropper; husbandman; tiller of the soil |
| 5 | Latin | colō | to cultivate the land, till, tend, take care of a field or garden |
| 6 | Latin | quelō | — |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | kʷelō | to inhabit |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷéleti | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷel- | to turn |