Etymology and origin of the Romanian word colonel
colonel1 officer
Etymology tree of colonel1
From the same root · colonel1
Forms
colonel m (plural colonei, feminine equivalent coloneleasă or colonelă)[1]
Etymology
The word for the officer is borrowed from French colonel, the source DEX, the DA, CADE, MDN and Wiktionary give.[2][3][4][5][1] Other dictionaries name Italian beside French: MDA2 and Tiktin give both, and the DA notes borrowed from Italian colonnello with the same sense.[6][7][3] Ciorănescu puts the Italian word first, in the 18th century, and the French one after it.[8] DELR adds borrowed from German Kolonel after the DÎLR, beside the French and Italian words.[9]
The Italian word first named the commander of a column of soldiers.[10] It is formed on colonna (“column”) with the diminutive suffix -ello, and goes back to Latin columna (“column, pillar”).[1][9] French took it from Italian as coulonnel in 1534, with the modern spelling from 1556.[11]
Earliest recorded meaning
The first record is in Radu Greceanu's chronicle (1693–1714), for a senior officer commanding a regiment.[9][7] The Moldavian chronicles have it too: „Trimis-au atunce... pre un colonel cu vre-o sută de Nemți” “then he sent a colonel with about a hundred Germans”.[3] MDA2's first record is Neculce's chronicle.[6]
Semantic evolution
The DA lists the older terms polcovnic, bimbașă and obâștăr beside it.[3] Costinescu still explained it in 1870 as polcovnic, the commander of a regiment.[12] In the modern army it is the highest grade of senior officer, above the locotenent-colonel.[2]
The colonel's wife was called colonelă from 1835, a word DEX takes from French colonelle, and coloneleasă from 1894.[9] Subcolonel, a former rank just below colonel, was formed in 1842 after sublocotenent.[9] Besides colonei the plural coloneli was once used.[13]
Timeline
- 1693–1714 – Radu Greceanu's chronicle, the first record.[9][7]
- c. 1743 – Neculce's chronicle, MDA2's first record.[6]
- 1835 – colonelă “colonel's wife” in Negruzzi.[9]
- 1842 – subcolonel in Asachi.[9]
- 1848 – Negulici explains it as the commander of a regiment.[14]
- 1894 – coloneleasă in Bacalbașa.[9]
Meanings
Noun
- The highest rank of senior officer in the Romanian army, above locotenent-colonel and below general; a colonel.[2][6]
- A person who holds this rank: colonelul a inspectat regimentul “the colonel inspected the regiment”.[2][15]
Word family
- colonelă
- coloneleasă
- subcolonel
colonel2 type size
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Borrowing
- First attested
- 1949 Lexiconul tehnic român
- Borrowed from
- German Kolonel
- Ultimate origin
- Latin columna
Forms
colonel n (uncountable)[1]
Etymology
The word for the type size is borrowed from German Kolonel, the printers' term, as DEX, DN, DELR and Wiktionary say.[2][16][9][1] DELR traces the German word to Italian colonnello (“small column”), formed on colonna (“column”), from Latin columna.[9]
Earliest recorded meaning
The first record is the Lexiconul tehnic român of 1949, for a body of type of seven typographic points.[9][6]
Timeline
Meanings
Noun
Related words
- coloană
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 207
- ^ a b c d Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. colonel
- ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
- ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. colonel
- ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 464
- ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. colonel
- ^ Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. colonel
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. colonel
- ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
- ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 214
- ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 494
- ^ Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. colonel
- ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. colonel
- ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. colonel
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Colonel.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/colonel. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.
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