Etymologically
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colline

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 15:34. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kɔ.lin/[1]

Forms

colline f (plural collines)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin collīna (“hilly ground, hill”), probably through Italian collina, in use since the 14th century; the naturalist Pierre Belon, who first used it, had travelled in Italy.[2][3][1] The Late Latin noun comes from a phrase meaning “hilly places”, made with collīnus (“of a hill”), from collis (“hill”).[2][3][4] Bloch and Wartburg trace the phrase to the land-surveyors of the late Empire and think the French word is not a borrowing but a regional word of the west.[4]

The Latin noun belongs to an Indo-European root also seen in Lithuanian kálnas, English hill, Ancient Greek κολώνη (kolṓnē) and Russian холм (xolm, “hill”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pierre Belon's Nature des oyseaux (1555) is the first text to use it, for a low hill.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed that of a low, rounded rise of ground.[3][6] Oudin records the 16th-century slang gaigner la colline, to run away.[7] In the French of Rwanda and Burundi colline names a geographical unit with a certain social and economic unity.[3] The rare diminutive collinette (1596–1614) and the adjective collinaire (1838) are derived from it.[3][2]

Timeline

  • 1555 – First record, in Pierre Belon.[2]
  • 1596–1614 – The diminutive collinette.[2]
  • 1838 – Collinaire.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A hill, a low rounded rise of ground with gentle slopes.[6][1]
  2. Les sept collines de Rome: the seven hills of Rome.[6][5]
  3. (Rwanda, Burundi) A rural community and territorial unit.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette