colonel French · revision 17036

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1534 (coulonnel)|origins=la columna}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kɔ.lɔ.nɛl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''colonel''' ''m'' (plural colonels, feminine colonelle)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Coulonnel'' (1534), ''colonnel'' (before 1544), ''colonel'' (1556); ''coronel'', ''couronnel'' were also common in the 16th century.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|it|colonnello|t=commander of a column]], recorded before 1543, from [[m|it|colonna|t=column (of soldiers)]], from [[la|columna|t=column]] (see [[colonne]]).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The 16th-century form “coronel”, used until Malherbe, is probably not due to [[es|coronel]], as the FEW thought, but to the swap of /l/ and /r/ common in Middle French, as in “mérancolie” for “mélancolie”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Bloch and Wartburg note that Spanish still has that form, and Littré rejects a link with [[couronne]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A Gironde document of 1534 has ''coulonnel de la légion'', the commander of a regiment.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Jean de La Lande (1556) uses ''colonel'' for any military leader.^(TLFi) As an adjective, ''compagnies coulonnelles'' (1559, Amyot) were companies commanded by a colonel general, and the feminine noun ''colonnelle'' (after 1578, Brantôme) named such a company.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) From 1689 ''la colonelle'' was the colonel's wife, and today also a woman with the rank of colonel.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ Military slang shortened it to ''colo'' (1878) and ''colon'' (1888, Courteline), whence the admiring or ironic ''mon colon !''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The rank of ''lieutenant-colonel'' is recorded in 1669.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1534 – ''Coulonnel''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1540–1546 – ''Couronnel'', in ''Amadis de Gaule''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1556 – ''Colonel''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1669 – ''Lieutenant-colonel''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1689 – ''Colonelle'', the colonel's wife.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1888 – Slang ''colon'', Courteline.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|colonel]], a senior officer commanding a regiment: ''colonel d'infanterie''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(feminine, dated)'' ''Colonelle'': a colonel's wife.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A dessert of lemon sorbet and vodka.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[colonel-major]]

+ * [[lieutenant-colonel]]

+ * [[colonne]]

+ * [[colon]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}