Etymologically
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colum

Etymology and origin of the Latin word colum

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Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
Cato

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈkoː.ɫũː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkɔː.lum][1]

Forms

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

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.[2][3][4] Since the oldest sieves were wicker baskets, it has been taken as the same word as caulae “railing, lattice”, with a rustic /ō/ for /au/, but de Vaan finds it strange that ⟨au⟩ never appears in it.[2] He prefers to explain it together with quālus “wicker basket”, which means much the same thing.[2][1] The TLL thinks a link with the basket word not easy, and Wiktionary compares Sanskrit चालन (cālana, “sieve”).[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Cato.[2] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a strainer, filter or sieve, as in Cato's list of equipment and in Virgil.[3][6][7] The cōlum nivārium was a strainer filled with snow through which wine was poured to cool it.[7]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato lists strainers in his equipment.[6][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil mentions wicker strainers.[6][5]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it.[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A strainer, sieve, filter.[3]

Word family

  • caulae
  • quālus
  • English colander

Usage notes

It is distinct from cōlum, cōlon “the colon, large intestine”, a borrowing of Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon).[7][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
Cite this entry

“Colum.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/colum. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·