coliseum

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin Colisēum, also Colisseum and Colyseus,^[2][3][4] the medieval name of the amphitheatre of Vespasian in Rome,^[2][5] a variant of Latin colossēum, the source of the name of the Colosseum.^[2][6][5] Klein takes the form as a blend of Italian coliseo and the Latin name.^[7] The Latin name is the neuter of the adjective colossēus (“gigantic, colossal”),^[2][3][8] from colossus (“a huge statue”),^[2][9] from Ancient Greek κολοσσός (kolossós, “gigantic statue”), a Mediterranean loanword.^[9][7] The OED notes that the Latin word first named the Colossus of Rhodes (6th century), and that the amphitheatre may have got the name from the colossal statue of Nero that stood near it; in post-classical Latin it is recorded for the amphitheatre from the 12th century, and the spelling with -i- from the 14th.^[9] The earliest English forms came from French colisée and the Italian word.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Barnhart dates the word to 1708–15, in an edition of Kersey's dictionary,^[11][6] Etymonline to about 1710,^[5] and Merriam-Webster to about 1715.^[3] The Shorter Oxford records the word for the Colosseum itself from the early 16th century, first in the forms colisee and coliseo.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The name first meant the amphitheatre in Rome; between the late 16th and the late 18th century it was also, rarely, used of any ancient Roman amphitheatre.^[10][9] From the early 19th century it was given to large modern buildings for shows,^[9][10] the OED's first record of a large public building or arena being from 1809;^[9] Etymonline glosses the early sense as a music hall.^[5][7] In the late 19th century it became a name for large theatres and, especially in North America, sports stadiums.^[10][12] The spelling colosseum is now usual for the Roman building, and coliseum for the modern halls.^[10][4]

Timeline

• early 16th century – colisee, coliseo, the Colosseum in Rome.^[10]
• late 16th century – any ancient Roman amphitheatre (rare, until the late 18th century).^[10]
• 1708–1715 – coliseum, in an edition of Kersey's dictionary.^[6]
• 1809 – a large public building or arena.^[9]
• late 19th century – a large theatre or, chiefly in North America, a stadium.^[10][12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large building or stadium for sports, shows and other events with many spectators: The city's new coliseum seats twenty thousand.^[3][4][9]
2. A large assembly hall or theatre.^[3][4]
3. Any large ancient amphitheatre, especially in Rome.^[9][10]

Related words

• Colosseum
• colossus
• colossal

Usage notes

The Colosseum (also Coliseum) is the name of the amphitheatre in Rome;^[10] Collins gives colosseum as another spelling of the common noun.^[4][10]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press