Where does “colonel” come from?
colonel (Romanian) comes from French colonel, from Middle French coronel, from Italian colonnello, from Italian -ello, from Latin -ellus, from Latin -ulus, from Proto-Italic -olos, from Proto-Italic -elos — Forms agent nouns from verbal roots.
colonel (Romanian): A colonel; A glyph
Ancestry of “colonel”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | French | colonel | A colonel, highest commissioned officer below... |
| 2 | Middle French | coronel | — |
| 3 | Italian | colonnello | colonel |
| 4 | Italian | -ello | Alterative suffix used to form... |
| 5 | Latin | -ellus | Alternative form of -ulus; "forming masculine... |
| 6 | Latin | -ulus | Used to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating... |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -olos | — |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | -elos | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |