colonel

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈkɜː.nəl/, US /ˈkɝː.nəl/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French coronel, with the later spelling from Middle French colonel,^[2][3][4] from Italian colonnello (“commander of the column of soldiers at the head of a regiment”),^[2][3] from colonna (“column”), from Latin columna (“pillar”).^[2][3] The French r is due to dissimilation of the two l's,^[3][2] and Spanish and Portuguese coronel show the same change, perhaps also influenced by corona.^[2] It is related to column.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The commander of a regiment: 1548 in Barnhart, spelled coronel, and 1548–83 in the OED.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The spelling colonel came into English in 1583 from a variant French form,^[3] and was established in learned writing through translations of Italian military manuals in the late 16th century.^[2][3] Pronunciations with r and with l existed side by side until about 1650 according to Etymonline, or the early 19th century according to Barnhart, but the r pronunciation won while the spelling colonel stayed.^[2][3] The abbreviation col. is attested by 1707.^[2] In the southern United States it is a courtesy title.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 1548 – coronel, a regimental commander.^[3]
• 1583 – the spelling colonel.^[3]
• c. 1650 – the r pronunciation prevails.^[2]
• 1707 – col..^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An officer in an army, air force or the US Marine Corps, ranking above a lieutenant colonel and below a brigadier or brigadier general.
2. An honorary title given in some southern US states.

Word family

• colonelcy

Related words

• column
• colonnade

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin