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

Definitions

  1. A colonel; A glyph

Ancestry of “colonel”, step by step

colonel traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via French colonel

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1FrenchcolonelA colonel, highest commissioned officer below...
2Middle Frenchcoronel
3Italiancolonnellocolonel
4Italian-elloAlterative suffix used to form...
5Latin-ellusAlternative form of -ulus; "forming masculine...
6Latin-ulusUsed to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating...
7Proto-Italic-olos
8Proto-Italic-elosForms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns
9Proto-Indo-European-e-lós
10Proto-Indo-European-lósForms agent nouns from verbal roots

via Romanian colun

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Romaniancolunwild ass
2Old Church Slavonicколоунъ

via German Kolonel

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1GermanKolonel

Words derived from “colonel

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -lós