collo

Forms

collo m (plural colli)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin collum (“neck”), which in early Latin was also masculine, collus.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The word lives on in all the Romance languages except Romanian: French cou, Occitan col, Catalan coll, Spanish cuello, Portuguese colo, Sardinian cóllu and Friulian kuel.^[3][6][7]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kʷolsom, the same word as Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐍃 (hals) and Old High German hals (modern German Hals); Latin /ll/ here continues /ls/.^[3][5][1][8] Nocentini and DEI derive it from *kʷel- (“to turn”), the neck being the part on which the head turns, and DEI compares the same image in Ancient Greek τράχηλος (trákhēlos, “neck”) beside τροχός (trokhós, “wheel”).^[3][8] De Vaan is more cautious: the Gothic word fits only if the labiovelar lost its rounding in Germanic, so he reconstructs only *kolso- for the shared word.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is a northern colo in the Glossary of Monza, of the 10th century, for the part of the body that joins the head to the trunk.^[9][6] DELI's first Tuscan record is in Restoro d'Arezzo in 1282, who names a star collo de corbo (neck of the raven).^[2][4][10]

Semantic evolution

Before 1321 Dante used the word for the narrow upper part of vessels and objects, and Prati notes that he also used it for a mountain pass and for the neck of a lute.^[2][11] Through the image of a load carried on the neck, collo came to mean a bale or package of goods: in 1385 the Datini archive reports a ship that carried 900 coli of spices.^[2][10][3] Italian passed this sense on: the plural colli gave French colis (1723), spread from Marseilles, and German Kollo (1489).^[8][12]

The sense “collar” spread in the 19th century, especially in the north, after French col.^[8] Derivatives include collottola, the nape (before 1304), and collotorto, a hypocrite who bends his neck to show devotion (1542, Pietro Aretino).^[2]

Timeline

• 10th century – Colo appears in the Glossary of Monza.^[9][6]
• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses collo.^[2][4]
• Before 1304 – Collottola is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for the neck of a vessel.^[2]
• 1385 – The Datini archive uses it for a bale of goods.^[2][12]
• 1489 – German Kollo is recorded.^[12]
• 1542 – Pietro Aretino uses collotorto.^[2]
• 1723 – French colis is recorded.^[12][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The neck, the part of the body joining the head to the chest: La giraffa ha un collo lunghissimo.^[4][13][14]
2. (anatomy) The narrow part of an organ, as in collo dell'utero and collo del femore.^[4][14]
3. The narrow upper part of a vessel or object: il collo della bottiglia.^[4][14]
4. (botany) The narrow part at the base of an organ.^[4]
5. A mountain pass, a col.^[4][14]
6. (architecture) The lower part of a capital.^[4][14]
7. The mouth of an estuary; an isthmus joining a peninsula to the mainland.^[4]
8. The collar of a garment: Si è alzato il collo della giacca per il freddo.^[4][14]
9. The instep, collo del piede; the part of a shoe round it.^[4]
10. (nautical) A turn of a rope round something.^[4][14]
11. A package, bale or piece of luggage sent or carried: All'aeroporto hanno perso due colli.^[4][13][15]

Word family

• collana
• colletto
• collottola
• torcicollo
• scavezzacollo
• rompicollo
• tracolla
• tracollo
• accollare
• scollato
• scollatura
• collotorto

Related words

• collare
• Latin collum
• German Hals

Usage notes

Common phrases are a rotta di collo (at breakneck speed), fino al collo (up to one's neck, as in debts) and tra capo e collo (all of a sudden).^[16][15][17] The spelling collo was also the contraction of con and lo, “with the”, now rare in writing.^[17][1][18]

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 Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 15, 922
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1014
9. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 309
12. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
13. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
18. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET