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corono

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word corono

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 235–200 BC, Naevius
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (κορώνη)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔˈroː.noː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [koˈrɔː.no][1]

Forms

corōnō (present infinitive corōnāre, perfect active corōnāvī, supine corōnātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is formed from corōna (“garland, crown”).[2][3] ⟨corōna⟩ comes from Ancient Greek κορώνη (korṓnē, “anything curved; a crown”), according to the OLD, the TLL and Wiktionary.[2][4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Naevius, in his Cypria Ilias, has a jewelled collar encircling a neck.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is “to deck with garlands, crown”, of persons, statues, doors and temples, as Ovid's crowned temples, and of wine bowls wreathed by Virgil's companions.[2][3] Victors in contests were crowned, as Pliny the Elder says Athens crowned its victors with olive.[2] The older sense, already in Naevius, is “to form a ring round, encircle”.[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “to crown”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius of a collar round the neck.[2][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of wreathed bowls.[2][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of crowned temples.[3][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of crowning victors.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To deck with garlands, wreathe, crown; to crown a victor.[2][3][1][5]
  2. To form a ring round, encircle.[2][1]

Word family

  • corōnāmen
  • corōnātiō
  • corōnātor
  • incorōnātus
  • corōlla
  • corōna
  • corōnālis
  • corōnāmentum
  • corōnārius
  • English crown

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Corono.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/corono. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·