Etymograph

English

colonnade

Colonnade comes from French colonne ‘column, pillar’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kelH- ‘to rise, be tall’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kelH-1‘to rise, be tall’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kolamen1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEculmen2‘a pillar, top, crown, summit’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcolumna3‘column, pillar’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400columne3‘column’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600colomne3‘column’
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentcolonne4‘column, pillar’
  8. Frenchc. 1600–presentcolonnade4
  9. Englishtodaycolonnade4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin culmen
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin columna
  3. 3 Wiktionary, French colonne
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English colonnade

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kelH-Wiktionary, Latin culmen‘to rise, be tall’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kolamenWiktionary, Latin culmenreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEculmenWiktionary, Latin columna‘a pillar, top, crown, summit’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcolumnaWiktionary, French colonne‘column, pillar’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400columneWiktionary, French colonne‘column’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600colomneWiktionary, French colonne‘column’
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentcolonneWiktionary, English colonnade‘column, pillar’
  8. Frenchc. 1600–presentcolonnadeWiktionary, English colonnade
  9. EnglishtodaycolonnadeWiktionary, English colonnade

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kelH- ‘to rise, be tall’

hill, excellent, excellence, hale, excellency, excelsior, holm, culminate, 8 more

through Latin culmen ‘a pillar, top, crown, summit’

culmination, 5 more

through Latin columna ‘column, pillar’

columnar, columella, 3 more

through Old French columne ‘column’

column, 1 more

Today it means

noun A series of columns at regular intervals.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “colonnade”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin culmen, Latin columna, French colonne. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kelH- / colonnade

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