Etymograph

English

colossus

Colossus comes from Latin colossus ‘colossus, giant statue’, and goes back to Ancient Greek κολοσσός.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκολοσσόςkolossós‘large statue, especially the colossus of Rhodes’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcolossus‘colossus, giant statue’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1951same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκολοσσόςkolossós‘large statue, especially the colossus of Rhodes’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcolossus‘colossus, giant statue’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1951same form

Earliest quotation: 1951, Isaac Asimov, Foundation (1974 Panther Books Ltd publication): “["]The Empire has always been a realm of colossal…”

The story

From Latin colossus, from Ancient Greek κολοσσός (kolossós, “large statue, especially the colossus of Rhodes”), from an unknown Pre-Greek etymon (and erroneously associated with κολοφών).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Linked words

through Ancient Greek κολοσσός ‘large statue, especially the colossus of Rhodes’

coliseum, 3 more

Today it means

noun A statue of gigantic size. The name was especially applied to certain famous statues in antiquity, as the Colossus of Nero in Rome and the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

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

Etymograph / Ancient Greek κολοσσός / colossus

Shirt and support for this word