col-comb. form

assimilated form of the prefix com- prefix, con- prefix, before l; not used in the earliest Latin, which had con-, but afterwards regular, and so in modern Romanic and English, as Latin conloquium, colloquium, colloquy n. For the general signification, see com- prefix.As in the case of the parallel forms com- and con-, Latin words in coll- were in Provençal, Spanish, Old French, and early Middle English, reduced to col-, as in Latin collecta, Old French coleite, Middle English colet; so colacion, colege. With the revival of learning this was altered back to coll-; but only one l is sounded, and the unaccented syllable is apt to remain /kəʊ-/ or /kə-/; there is, however, usually an effort to show the effect of the l upon the vowel, when rhetorical or distinctive stress is put on the first syllable: i.e., the full /kɒl-/ may be developed under stress.