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Etymology and origin of the Latin word colon

colon1 large intestine

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
14–37 Celsus
Borrowed from
Ancient Greek κόλον
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek κόλον

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkɔ.ɫɔn][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkɔː.lon][1]

Forms

colon n (genitive colī); second declension[1] It is also written colum.[2][3]

Etymology

The word for the large intestine is borrowed from Ancient Greek κόλον (kólon, “large intestine”).[2][1][4] The OLD keeps it apart from cōlon “clause”, with a short vowel,[2] while Lewis & Short and Georges write both as one word, ⟨cōlon⟩, from κῶλον (kôlon, “limb, member”).[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Celsus has it as the name the gut is given: he speaks of a looser intestine “which they call colon” that is apt to ache.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In Pliny the Elder and Scribonius Largus it names both the large intestine and the pain in it, colic: cumin is drunk “for the colon”, and Scribonius has coli dolor.[2][5][8] Serenus has a masculine cōlus.[5]

Medieval Latin kept it as the anatomical term for the large intestine:[4] Ælfric's glossary renders it with the Old English word hrop, and a medieval anatomical treatise explains the name “from straining” (a colando), because waste passes through it faster than through the ileum.[4]

Timeline

  • 14–37 AD – Celsus calls the large intestine by this name.[2][7]
  • c. 47 AD – Scribonius Largus speaks of coli dolor, pain of the colon.[5][8][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for the large intestine and for colic.[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The large intestine, the colon.[2][5]
  2. Pain in the large intestine, colic.[2][5][8]

colon2 clause, member of a verse

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 35–96 Quintilian
Borrowed from
Ancient Greek κῶλον
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek κῶλον
Etymology tree of colon2
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon)
Latin cōlon

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkoː.ɫɔn][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkɔː.lon][1]

Forms

cōlon n (genitive cōlī); second declension[1]

Etymology

The word for a member of a verse or sentence is borrowed from Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon, “limb, member; clause”).[2][9][1] The Greek word meant literally a limb, especially the leg, and was used for a part of a verse.[10][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Quintilian uses it for a metrical unit, a part of a line of verse, saying that a certain sequence will at once make an Anacreontic colon.[2][11][7]

Semantic evolution

Grammarians and rhetoricians used it for a member of a verse and for a clause of a period:[2][6] Terentianus Maurus says cola are never bound by a single word, and Fronto pairs commata and cola as the units of older prose.[2] A letter of Augustus quoted in the Life of Virgil asks for the first drafts of a poem “or any colon”, that is, any fragment or snatch of it.[2][8][11] Isidore of Seville defines it as a member of a sentence.[8]

In Medieval Latin it also named the punctuation mark of two points,[12] and English took colon in this sense in the 1540s from the Latin word for part of a verse.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it for a metrical part of a verse.[2][11][7]
  • 100–170 AD – Fronto names cola among the units of style.[2][11][7]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville uses it for a member of a sentence.[8][7]
  • 1540s – English borrows it as colon for the punctuation mark.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A part of a line of verse, a metrical unit.[2][8]
  2. A member or clause of a period in prose.[2][6][8]
  3. A line, fragment or snatch of a poem.[2][11]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A colon, the punctuation mark of two points.[12]

Usage notes

Conte warns against confusing the forms of colon with those of colum “strainer”.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  10. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  12. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill

Borrowed into

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Colon.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/colon. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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