colonnello

Forms

colonnello m (plural colonnelli)^[1] Feminine colonnella, though the masculine is often used of a woman.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Italian colonna + -ello, a diminutive of “colonna” “column”.^[4][1][5] The military sense comes from “colonna” as a column of soldiers: the “colonnello” was first the body of several companies, and then the officer in command of it.^[5][6][7][8] “Colonna” is inherited from Latin columna (“column, pillar”), a word of Indo-European origin; de Vaan finds it hard to derive from columen (“top, summit”) by any regular process.^[5][6][9]

As a small column, the word is older: the LEI places it under Latin columnellus (“small column; pillar”), beside the older columellus, and Old Italian “colonnello” “small column” is recorded in a Sienese document of 1277–1282.^[10][11] The officer's title passed from Italian into French colonel (1534, also “coronel” in the 16th century), into Spanish coronel (1511), and, from French into English colonel (1548).^[12][8][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record of the military word is from Milan in 1472, for a corps of soldiers made up of several companies.^[5][12] Agnolo Firenzuola (1518–1525) uses it for the commander of such a corps, and Francesco Algarotti, before 1764, for the senior officer who commands a regiment, the modern sense.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The older colonnello “small column” is common in the 14th century: Giovanni Villani describes a Florentine tower “fatto a colonnelli di marmo” (“built with small marble columns”).^[8][11] Builders used it for the upright beam of a roof truss, and printers from 1635 for a vertical division of a page; in Old Italian it also named the columns of an account book and a family line or kin group.^{[4][12][11][13]}

In the army the colonnello commanded a regiment by the 18th century; the tenente colonnello ranks below him.^[5][4][14] The regime dei colonnelli is the military dictatorship in Greece from 1967 to 1974.^[2] In journalism a colonnello is a young, ambitious lieutenant of a party leader.^[4][2][14]

Timeline

• 1277–1282 – Colonnello “small column” appears in a Sienese document.^[11]
• Before 1348 – It is recorded for the upright beam of a roof truss.^[4]
• 1472 – At Milan it names a corps of several companies.^[5][12]
• 1511 – Spanish coronel is recorded.^[8]
• 1518–1525 – Firenzuola uses it for the commander of the corps.^[5]
• 1534 – French coulonnel, later colonel, is borrowed.^[12]
• 1548 – English colonel is recorded.^[8]
• Before 1764 – Algarotti uses it for the commander of a regiment.^[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (military) A colonel: the senior officer between tenente colonnello and general, in the army, the air force and the armed corps of the state, commanding a regiment or a similar unit.^[4][2][14]
2. (journalism) A close, often young and ambitious lieutenant of a political leader: Il segretario ha mandato avanti i suoi colonnelli.^[4][2][15]
3. (historical) A corps of soldiers made up of several companies; a regiment.^[4][16]
4. (architecture) The upright beam of a roof truss, a king post, (archaic) a small column.^[4][11][8]
5. (printing) A vertical division of a page or a table.^[4][16]

Word family

• tenente colonnello

Related words

• colonna
• colonnato
• French colonel

Usage notes

Bandiera colonnella (1630), a word taken from French colonel, was the flag of a colonel's company.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 15, 1164
11. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b c d e Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
13. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1019
14. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana