colō
Etymology 1
From Proto-Italic *kʷelō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to move, to turn (around), to revolve around, and therefore to sojourn, to dwell”). The same root also gave in-quil-īnus (“inhabitant”) and anculus (“servant”).
Cognates include Ancient Greek πέλω (pélō), πόλος (pólos), τέλλω (téllō), τέλος (télos), τῆλε (têle), πάλαι (pálai), κύκλος (kúklos), Sanskrit चरति (cárati), English wheel.
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈko.loː/, [ˈkɔɫ̪oː]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈko.lo/, [ˈkɔːlo]
Verb
colō (present infinitive colere, perfect active coluī, supine cultum); third conjugation
- to cultivate the land, till, tend, take care of a field or garden (literal) [ synonyms ▲][ quotations ▼]
- to inhabit [ synonyms ▲]
- to frequent, be the guardian of, cherish, care for, protect, nurture [ synonyms ▲][ quotations ▼]
- (figuratively) to worship, honor, revere, reverence [ quotations ▼]
Usage notes
The words colō and excolō can be confused in usage. Their root being the Proto-Indo-European *kʷel-, originally colō probably meant turning (plowing for cultivation) the soil, and by extension of inhabiting a place; by further extension, it adopted the senses of improving said habitation by cultivating the land and through the specific nurture of crops. While figurative senses of nurturing and improving are attributable to colō, they are more properly rendered by excolō, since nurture and improvement are the parts of the (literal) process of land cultivation "out of" (ex-) which springs excolō, rendering the figurative and universal sense of cultivating. This means colō/cultus/cultiō can properly render cultivation strictly in the agricultural sense, while excolō/excultus/excultiō are for the senses of cultivation—improvement by means of effort or labor—in the general, non-agricultural sense.