Etymologically
Log in

collinus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 23 October 2026 at 08:13. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔlˈliː.nʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kolˈliː.nus][1]

Forms

collīnus (feminine collīna, neuter collīnum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin collis (“hill”) + -īnus.[2][3][4][1] The noun goes back to Proto-Italic *kolni- and Proto-Indo-European *kolH-n- (“hill”), from the root *klH- (“to lift”).[4]

De Vaan compares Ancient Greek κολώνη (kolṓnē, “hill”), Lithuanian kálnas (“hill”) and Old English hyll (“hill”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Varro on.[4][5] In his work on farming he sets the hill type of land against the flat and the mountainous, and says that hill vineyards are thought the better.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Writers on farming and medicine used it of what grows or lies on hills: Columella of hill wines and of water from hill springs, and Celsus, who finds hill wheat stronger than that of the plain.[3][6] Rufinus writes of scouts making for the hilltops, and the land surveyors use it for public lands on hills.[3]

At Rome it named the district of the Quirinal and Viminal hills:[6][2] Varro speaks of the regiō Collīna and the tribus Collīna, one of the city tribes, which Cicero also names.[6][7] The porta Collīna, the Colline gate near the Quirinal, appears in Cicero, Livy and Ovid,[2][6] and there were also a Colline tower and Colline Salii.[3][2] The TLL leaves open whether Propertius' “Colline herbs” grew near the gate or simply on hills.[3] Collīnus was also a Roman surname.[3]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of hill land and hill vineyards.[3][6][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero names the Colline gate and the Colline tribe.[2][6][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy mentions the Colline gate.[2][6][5]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus calls hill wheat stronger than that of the plain.[3][5]
  • 1st century AD – Columella writes of hill wines.[3][6][5]
  • c. 345–411/412 AD – Rufinus writes of hilltops sought by scouts.[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of or belonging to hills; growing or found on hills.[2][6][3][1]
  2. (Collīnus) Of the Quirinal and Viminal district of Rome;[2][6][7] porta Collīna, the Colline gate;[2][6][7] tribus Collīna, the Colline tribe.[2][6][7]

Word family

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.