Etymograph

English

corona

Corona comes from Latin corōna ‘crown’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to turn, bend’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ker-1‘to turn, bend’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκορώνη1korṓnē‘type of crown’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcorōna1‘crown’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1740corona1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English corona
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1740, Patrick Blair, The Osteology of an Elephant, with a Brief Account of Its Pa: “[page 317] The lower jaw conſiſts of one large…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ker-Wiktionary, English corona‘to turn, bend’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκορώνηWiktionary, English coronakorṓnē‘type of crown’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcorōnaWiktionary, English corona‘crown’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1740coronaWiktionary, English corona. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1740, Patrick Blair, The Osteology of an Elephant, with a Brief Account of Its Pa: “[page 317] The lower jaw conſiſts of one large…”

The story

The noun is borrowed from Latin corōna (‘crown; garland, wreath’), from Ancient Greek κορώνη (korṓnē, “type of crown; curved object (door handle, tip of a bow, stern of a ship, etc.)”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (‘to turn, bend’). The English word is a doublet of crown, korona, koruna, krona, króna, and krone. The plural form coronae is borrowed from Latin corōnae.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to turn, bend’

share, short, card, across, cancer, screen, cross, shirt, circle, circuit, score, crucial, curve, scare, circus, skirt, carnival, circulation, curb, scar, scrutiny, shrine, crest, cancellation, circa, shear, shred, incarceration, raffle, circulate, carcinoma, shrewd, carnage, crux, shard, cirque, riddance, crepe, scorpion, ruck, 116 more

through Ancient Greek κορώνη ‘type of crown’

crowning, corollary, 15 more

through Latin corōna ‘crown’

crown, tosh, corolla, krona, 17 more

Another origin of corona

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱorh₂-reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκορώνηkorṓnē‘a type of seabird, perhaps a shearwater’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcorōna‘chaplet, laurel, or wreath’
  4. Italianc. 1300–presentcorona‘coronet’
  5. Englishtodaycorona

Another origin of corona

  1. Spanishc. 1500–presentLa Coronaliterally ‘The Crown’
  2. Englishtodaycorona

Borrowed from Spanish La Corona (literally “The Crown”), a brand of cigars from Havana, Cuba.

Today it means

noun A large, round, pendent chandelier, with spikes around its upper rim to hold candles or lamps, usually hung from the roof of a church.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “corona”. 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 *(s)ker- / corona

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