English
collocation
Collocation comes from Latin collocātiō ‘a putting together’, from collocō ‘to place, put, set in order, assign, arrange’, and ultimately from Old Latin stlocus.
- Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEstlocus
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocus‘place’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CElocō‘put, place, set’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcollocō‘to place, put, set in order, assign, arrange’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcollocātiō‘a putting together’
- Englishearliest quotation 1869collocation
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEstlocus
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocus‘place’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CElocō‘put, place, set’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcollocō‘to place, put, set in order, assign, arrange’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcollocātiō‘a putting together’
- Englishearliest quotation 1869collocation
Earliest quotation: 1869, Friedrich Max Müller, May: “Everything in fact depends in Chinese on the proper…”
Equivalent to col- ‘together’ + location
first attested First attested in 1605 (as stated in the etymology)
The story
The technical sense in linguistics was established in 1951, although it may actually be earlier. First attested in 1605.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *stel- ‘to put, to place’
stole, install, stall, apostle, stalk, stale, stool, epistle, stele, stela, apostolate, stell, stolid, 26 more
through Old Latin stlocus
locality, milieu, locale, 10 more
through Latin locus ‘place’
local, allowance, lieu, locus, loco, allocate, locative, 13 more
through Latin locō ‘put, place, set’
Today it means
noun The grouping or juxtaposition of things, especially words or sounds.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old Latin stlocus / collocation