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Origin and history of column

column(n.)

mid-15c., "a pillar, long, cylindrical architectural support," also "vertical division of a page," from Old French colombe (12c., Modern French colonne "column, pillar"), from Latin columna "pillar," collateral form of columen "top, summit," from PIE root *kel- (2) "to be prominent; hill."

In the military sense "formation of troops narrow in front and extending back" from 1670s, opposed to a line, which is extended in front and thin in depth. Sense of "matter written for a newspaper" (the contents of a column of type) dates from 1785.

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to column

columnar(adj.)

"having the form of a column; of or pertaining to a column," 1728, from Late Latin columnaris "rising in the form of a pillar," from columna "column" (see column).

columnist(n.)

1915, "one who writes serially for publication in a newspaper or magazine," from column in the newspaper sense + -ist.

The successful Columnist puts his own personality into his column. It is not a case of impersonal jesting and the heaping up of cold, blue-lit diamonds of wit. The reader likes the column because it reveals a daily insight into another man's soul—and he finds this other soul likeable. [C.L. Edson, "The Gentle Art of Columning," 1920]
*kel-(2)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to be prominent," also "hill."

It might form all or part of: colonel; colonnade; colophon; column; culminate; culmination; excel; excellence; excellent; excelsior; hill; holm.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit kutam "top, skull;" Latin collis "hill," columna "projecting object," cellere "raise;" Greek kolōnos "hill," kolophōn "summit;" Lithuanian kalnas "mountain," kalnelis "hill," kelti "raise;" Old English hyll "hill," Old Norse hallr "stone," Gothic hallus "rock."

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    tower
    Old English torr "tower, watchtower," from Latin turris "a tower, citadel, high structure" (also source of Old French tor, 11c., Modern French tour; Spanish, Italian torre "tower"), possibly from a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean language. Meaning "lofty pile or mass" is recorded
    pillar
    c. 1200, piler, "a column or columnar mass, narrow in proportion to height, either weight-bearing or free-standing," from Old French piler "pillar, column, pier" (12c., Modern French pilier) and directly from Medieval Latin pilare, from Latin pila "pillar, stone barrier," a word
    stele
    The Greek word meant especially a column for fixing and publishing a peace treaty, hence the word also meant "law, treaty...;" but compare stēlitēs "one whose name is written on a column" in denunciation, also as an adjective, "publicly dishonored...
    prism
    are parallelograms" (not always triangular), from Late Latin prisma, from Greek prisma "a geometrical prism, trilateral column...Euclid chose the word, apparently, on the image of a column with the sides sawn off....
    colonel
    troops," 1540s, coronell, from French coronel (16c.), modified by dissimilation from Italian colonnella "commander of the column...of soldiers at the head of a regiment," from compagna colonella "little column company," from Latin columna "pillar," collateral...
    architrave
    1560s as an architectural feature of columns, "lower division of an entablature; part which rests immediately on the column...
    pile
    early 15c., "heap or stack of something," usually consisting of an indefinite number of separate objects arranged in a more or less regular conical or pyramidal form, from Old French pile "a heap, a stack," and directly from Latin pila "a pillar," also "stone barrier, pier" (see
    pedestal
    1560s, "base supporting a column, statue, etc.; that which serves as a foot or support," from French piédestal (1540s), from Italian piedistallo "base of a pillar," from pie "foot" (from Latin pes "foot;" from PIE root *ped- "foot") + di "of" + Old Italian stallo "stall, place, s
    table
    Middle English, from Old French table, tabel "board, square panel, plank; writing table; picture; food, fare" (11c.), and also a survival of late Old English tabele "flat and relatively thin surface of some hard material," especially "writing tablet (of slabs of wood, etc.,), gam

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