Etymograph

English

colloquial

Colloquial comes from Latin colloquium ‘conference, conversation’, from loquor ‘to speak’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *telkʷ- ‘to talk’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*telkʷ-‘to talk’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*tlokʷetorreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tlokʷōr‘to speak’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEloquor‘to speak’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcolloquor‘to speak to, talk together, converse, discuss, hold a conversation, parley or a conference’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcolloquium‘conference, conversation’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500colloquies
  8. English1500–presentcolloquy‘a conversation’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 2024colloquial

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*telkʷ-‘to talk’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*tlokʷetorreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tlokʷōr‘to speak’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEloquor‘to speak’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcolloquor‘to speak to, talk together, converse, discuss, hold a conversation, parley or a conference’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcolloquium‘conference, conversation’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500colloquies
  8. English1500–presentcolloquy‘a conversation’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 2024colloquial

Earliest quotation: 2024, Eva Corlett, Fidlets, fingies and riding a doo: study sheds light on Anta: “If you know what it means to be a…”

Linked words

through Latin loquor ‘to speak’

eloquent, eloquence, interlocutor, soliloquy, loquacious, 19 more

Today it means

adj Characteristic of familiar conversation, of common parlance; informal.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *telkʷ- / colloquial

Shirt and support for this word