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colonicus

Etymology and origin of the Latin word colonicus

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
Varro
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*kʷelh₁-)

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [kɔˈɫoː.nɪ.kʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [koˈlɔː.ni.kus][1]

Forms

colōnicus (feminine colōnica, neuter colōnicum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

The OLD derives it from colōnia “colony” with the suffix -cus, and the TLL, Lewis & Short and Gaffiot derive it from colōnus “farmer, settler”.[2][3][4][5] ⟨colōnus⟩ is from colō (“to till, inhabit”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁-e/o- (“to go round”).[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest source is Varro's Rēs rūsticae, of lēgēs colōnicae.[4][5][7] Köbler dates Varro 116–27 BC.[7]

Semantic evolution

The OLD takes it as of or prescribed for a colony, colonial, while Lewis & Short and Gaffiot take Varro's use as of farming or a farm, and Pliny has genus ovium colōnicum, a common breed of farm sheep.[2][4][5]

In Medieval Latin charters of the 6th–8th centuries it was a noun, a colonus, cultivator.[7]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it.[2][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of farm sheep.[2][7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of or prescribed for a colony, colonial.[2]
  2. Of a farm or husbandry, (of sheep) common, farm.[2][4]

Word family

  • colōnica

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Colonicus.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/colonicus. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·