English
couloir
Couloir comes from French couloir ‘corridor, hallway’, from couler ‘to sink’, and ultimately from Latin cōlum ‘colander, strainer’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōlum‘colander, strainer’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōlōas cōlāre‘filter, strain, purify’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentcouler‘to sink’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentcouloir‘corridor, hallway’literally ‘corridor’
- Englishearliest quotation 1953same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōlum‘colander, strainer’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōlōas cōlāre‘filter, strain, purify’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentcouler‘to sink’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentcouloir‘corridor, hallway’literally ‘corridor’
- Englishearliest quotation 1953same form
Earliest quotation: 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt: “It was a hole, in the fence, a large…”
The story
Borrowed from French couloir (literally “corridor”).
Linked words
through Latin cōlō ‘filter, strain, purify’
culture, cultural, cult, colony, kultur, 71 more
through French couler ‘to sink’
Today it means
noun A steep gorge along a mountainside.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin cōlum / couloir