col

Forms

col m (plural cols)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French col, inherited from Latin collum (“neck”).^[2][1][3] In Old French it was the singular form of the noun, of which cou was the plural oblique form; the two later became simple phonetic variants, and the word for the neck is now cou, its doublet.^[4][1] The Latin word also meant the neck of a vessel and, in imperial times, a pass between two mountains; in Late Latin it was an anatomical term for the neck of the bladder and of the womb.^[2] The Petit Robert connects the Latin word with a root meaning “to turn”.^[5]

Cognate with Italian collo, Occitan col, Catalan coll, Spanish cuello and Portuguese colo.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1100 in the Chanson de Roland for the part of the human body that joins the head to the trunk; the same sense is used of animals in the Roman de Renart (1174–77).^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Col and cou were used for the neck without distinction until the 17th century; in the classical period col was pronounced like cou, and in that sense it now survives only as an archaism or for the sake of euphony.^[4][2] The word then kept to clothing and to figurative senses: the part of a garment around the neck (1177–80, Chrétien de Troyes), a Romance creation since Roman dress left the neck bare.^[4][2] Later came col de dentelle (1838), col marin and faux col, a detachable stiff collar that also came to mean the head of foam on a glass of beer.^[4][2]

By likeness it named the narrow part of a vessel (mid-14th century), and in anatomy the neck of the bladder (1478) and of the womb (1546).^[2][4] Col de montagne “mountain pass” is first recorded by Monet in 1635 and gradually displaced the older words port, pas and détroit.^[2][4] Col blanc “office worker” (1937) follows English white collar, and col bleu is used both of a sailor and of an industrial worker.^[4][2]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – The Chanson de Roland uses col for the human neck.^[2]
• 1174–77 – The Roman de Renart uses it for an animal's neck.^[2]
• 1177–80 – Chrétien de Troyes's Chevalier au lion uses it for the collar of a garment.^[2]
• mid-14th century – It names the narrow neck of a pot.^[2]
• 1478 – Col de la vessie is recorded in anatomy.^[2]
• 1635 – Monet records col de montagne.^[2]
• 1832 – Col de cygne is used for the top of a tap key.^[2]
• 1838 – Col de dentelle appears in the letters of E. de Guérin.^[2]
• 1937 – Col blanc is recorded, after English white collar.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The part of a garment that surrounds the neck, a collar: col roulé, col marin, faux col.^[5][6][1]
2. A mountain pass, a dip between two peaks used to cross a range: franchir le col.^[5][6]
3. The narrow part of a vessel, the neck of a bottle.^[5][6]
4. (anatomy) The narrow part of an organ or a bone: col de l'utérus, col du fémur.^[5][6]
5. (archaic, literary) The neck of a person: se pousser du col “to give oneself airs”.^[5][7]
6. Col blanc: an office worker;^[2][4] col bleu: a manual worker, or a sailor.^[2][4]

Word family

• hausse-col
• collet
• colleter
• col-de-cygne

Related words

• cou
• collier
• encolure
• Latin collum

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 911a
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
7. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)