colón

Forms

colón m (plural colones)^[1]

Etymology

It is named from Spanish Colón (“Columbus”), after Cristóbal Colón, the navigator, because the coin bears his portrait.^[2][3][4][1] Wiktionary takes the surname from Latin Colombus, from columba (“dove”), and says it was also adapted from Catalan Colom.^[1] Spanish texts of the 16th century often still spell the navigator's name with a final ⟨m⟩.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dictionary record in our sources is Alemany's of 1917, which defines colón as a gold coin of Costa Rica named after the effigy of Columbus it carries.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word became the name of the monetary unit of Costa Rica and of El Salvador.^[2][7] The Costa Rican colón is divided into 100 céntimos.^[8] The Salvadoran one, of 100 centavos, went out of use after 2001, when the United States dollar was allowed to circulate.^[8] Vox also uses the word for a coin of that value.^[4]

Timeline

• 1917 – Alemany's dictionary records it as a gold coin of Costa Rica.^[6]
• 2001 – the Academy's dictionary gives it as the monetary unit of Costa Rica and El Salvador.^[7]
• 2001 – El Salvador allows the dollar to circulate, and its colón goes out of use.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The colón, the monetary unit (moneda) of Costa Rica, and formerly of El Salvador.^[2][8][1]
2. A coin worth one colón.^[4]

Related words

• Latin columba

Usage notes

The anatomical word, the large intestine, is colon, stressed on the first syllable;^[9] Cuervo already listed the pronunciation colón for it among common mispronunciations.^[9] Vox lists a separate colón for a long loaf of white bread, which Wikcionario explains as an augmentative of cola.^[4][8] The navigator's name appears in the phrase el huevo de Colón.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. colón
3. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
4. ^ a b c d Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial
5. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. colom
6. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 412
7. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. colón
8. ^ a b c d e Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. colón
9. ^ a b Cuervo, Rufino José (1914), Apuntaciones críticas sobre el lenguaje bogotano, 6th ed., París: A. & R. Roger y F. Chernoviz, p. 18