Etymology: In 16th cent. coronel , < French coronnel (also coronel , couronnel , and later colonnel ), < Italian colonnello , colonello chief commander of a regiment, < colonna column n.: compare colonnello, colon(n)ella ‘a little columne or piller’ in Florio; also la compagnia colonnella, French la compagnie colonelle, or simply la colonelle, the first company of a regiment of infantry. ‘The colonel was so called, because leading the little column or company at the head of the regiment’ (Skeat). The early French coronel (whence also Spanish coronel) was due to the dissimilation of l–l, common in Romanic, though popular etymology associated it with corona, couronne crown. It is still dialectal (see Littré), but was supplanted in literary use, late in 16th cent., by the more etymological colonnel; and under this influence and that of translations of Italian military treatises colonel also appeared in English c1580. The two forms were used indifferently by Barret, Holland, Decker, and others; coronel was the prevailing form till 1630, but disappeared in writing c1650. Of 89 quots. examined before this date, 56 have coronel, 33 colonel, thus distributed: up to 1590 coronel 21, colonel 1; 1591–1630cor- 31, col- 22; 1631–50cor- 4, col- 10; 1651– cor- 0. In 17th cent. colonell was trisyllabic, and was often accented (in verse) on the last syllable. But by 1669 it began to be reduced in pronunciation to two syllables, col'nel (according to Jones Pract. Phonography, 1701, /ˈkʌlnəl/), as recorded by Dr. Johnson 1755–73, and repeated without remark by Todd 1818; in Farquhar's Sir Harry Wildair (1701) it appears familiarly abbreviated to coll. But apparently the earlier coronel had never died out of popular use; Dr. A. J. Ellis Eng. Pronunc. 1074/2 cites Dyche 1710 for /ˈkʌrəʊnɛl/, Buchanan 1766 for /ˈkɔːnɪl/, Sheridan 1780 for /ˈkɜːnɛl/ the pronunciation now established, though apparently not yet universal in 1816. Compare the following examples:1548 T. Fisher in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1846) 3rd Ser. III. 296 Certen of the worthiest Almaynes at the desire of their coronell..reentred the same.1583 T. Stocker tr. Tragicall Hist. Ciuile Warres Lowe Countries i. 82 b 16 ensignes of Almaynes, whose Colonel was the Count of Guerstein.1598 R. Barret Theorike & Pract. Mod. Warres Gloss. 250 Colonell or Coronell, a french word, is the commander of a regiment of certaine companies of souldiers, called with the Spaniards Maestre del Campo.1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 111 The colonels, captaines, and other martiall men.a1625 J. Fletcher Rule a Wife (1640) ii. 15 Prethee Coronell, How doe thy companies fill now.1639 J. Shirley Ball i. sig. A3^v Enter the Coronell.1647 R. Stapleton tr. Juvenal Sixteen Satyrs 283 The great court favorite, Paris, sells The major's place and colonel's.1656 A. Cowley Davideis iv. 134 in Poems Till Uz and Jathan their stout Col'onels [1710 col'nels] fell.1691 D. Defoe New Discov. Old Intreague xv. 19 For equal Falshood, equal Fate befell, This dub'd a Knight, and that a Collonel.1701 G. Farquhar Sir Harry Wildair i. 4 Ay,..the Coll. has made his Fortune with a witness.1701 G. Farquhar Sir Harry Wildair ii. ii. 15 I'm a pretty Gentleman.—Coll. Where's your Wife?1726 J. Swift Cadenus & Vanessa 22 Many a Shaft, Pointed at Colonels, Lords, and Beaux.1816 C. James New Mil. Dict. (ed. 4) 116 Both the English and Scottish, but particularly the latter, pronounce the word Coronel, and so do the Irish.1816 ‘Quiz’ Grand Master vii. 177 If a tyrannic low-bred Colonel Would be a martinet infernal.1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan III. 14 Our cawnel.

Etymology: < colonel n.