coronnel (Middle French)

Where does "coronnel" come from?

The Middle French word 'coronnel' came from Italian 'colonnello', meaning a colonel or commanding officer of a column of soldiers, which originated from Old Italian 'colonnella' and Medieval Latin 'colonellus'[1]. These terms trace back to Latin 'columna', meaning a pillar or column, which is a collateral form of 'columen'[1][2]. Ultimately, the ancestry extends further back through Proto-Italic '*kolamen' to the Proto-Indo-European root '*kelH-', meaning to rise or be tall[1][8].

Open questions

• The derivation from Proto-Italic to Proto-Indo-European relies on reconstructed forms that are not directly attested. [1] [8]

Full etymology tree

• coronnel (Middle French), 'colonel; a middle-ranking military officer'
  • borrowed colonnello (Italian), 'colonel'
    • derived colonnella (Old Italian)
      • derived compagnia colonnella (Old Italian)
        • derived colonellus (Medieval Latin)
          • derived colonna (Latin)
            • inherited columna (Latin), 'column, pillar'
              • derived columen (Latin), 'pillar, column'
                • inherited *kolamen (Proto-Italic)
                  • inherited *kelH- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to rise, to be tall'

Ancestors

• *kelH- (Proto-Indo-European)
• colonnello (Italian)
• columna (Latin)

Cognates and doublets

• colonel (French)

Descendants and derived words

• coronel (English)
• coronel (English)
• coronel (Norman)

Sources

1. coronnel (Middle French) - Wiktionary
2. columna (Latin) - Wiktionary
3. colonnello (Italian) - Wiktionary
4. ello (Italian) - Wiktionary
5. colonna (Italian) - Wiktionary
6. ille (Latin) - Wiktionary
7. olnos (Proto-Italic) - Wiktionary
8. columen (Latin) - Wiktionary

Updated August 2026

More words starting with C

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris