Where does “Cologne” come from?
Cologne (Old French) comes 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
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | colōnia | A colony, settlement |
| 2 | Latin | colōnus | farmer, especially a kind of tenant farmer or sharecropper; husbandman; tiller of the soil |
| 3 | Latin | colō | to cultivate the land, till, tend, take care of a field or garden |
| 4 | Latin | quelō | — |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | kʷelō | to inhabit |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷéleti | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷel- | to turn |