coll

See also: Coll, coll., coll', and Coll.

English

Etymology

From Middle English collen, from Old French coler, acoler (“accoll, throw arms round neck of”); ultimately from Latin ad + collum (“neck”).

Pronunciation

• (MLE) IPA^(key): /qʰʊu̯/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɒl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kɑl/
• Rhymes: -ɒl
• Homophones: col; caul, call (cot–caught merger)

Verb

coll (third-person singular simple present colls, present participle colling, simple past and past participle colled)

1. (ambitransitive) To hug or embrace.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 420:

     So hauing ſayd, her twixt her armes twaine / Shee ſtreightly ſtraynd, and colled tenderly

   • 1593, Thomas Nashe, The Choice of Valentines:

     "As how, my lambkin," blushing, she replide, / "Because I in this dancing schoole abide? / If that it be, that breede's this discontent, / We will remoue the camp incontinent: / For shelter onelie, sweete heart, came I hither, / And to auoide the troblous stormie weather; / But now the coaste is cleare, we will be gonne, / Since, but thy self, true louer I haue none." / With that she sprung full lightlie to my lips / And fast about the neck me colle's, and clips ...

   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 82:

     'You couldn't expect her to throw her arms round 'ee, an' to kiss and to coll 'ee all at once.'

   • 1995, Anthony Burgess, Byrne:

     They kissed and colled in parks and fields and, better, a / Warm bed, her own.

Translations

to hug or embrace

• Finnish: halata (fi), syleillä (fi)

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈkɔʎ]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin collum. Compare Occitan còl, French cou, and Sicilian coḍḍu.

Noun

coll m (plural colls)

1. (anatomy) neck
2. (anatomy) throat

   Synonym: gola

   mal de coll ― sore throat

3. (clothing) collar (part of a garment)
4. neckline
5. (card games) suit

Derived terms

• a collibè
• collada
• collar
• collejar
• colltort
• collut

Etymology 2

Inherited from Latin collis (“hill”).

Noun

coll m (plural colls)

2. (archaic or regional) hill

   Synonyms: puig, turó

3. col, pass (through hills)

   Synonym: pas

Derived terms

• collet

Further reading

• “coll”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “coll” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “coll”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026

Irish

Alternative forms

• call (Ulster)

Etymology

From Old Irish coll, from Proto-Celtic *koslos (“hazel”) (compare Welsh cyll).

Pronunciation

• (Galway) IPA^(key): /kaul̪ˠ/
• (Mayo) IPA^(key): /kol̪ˠ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /kal̪ˠ/ (corresponding to the form call)

Noun

coll m (genitive singular coill)

1. hazel
2. the letter C in the Ogham alphabet

Declension

Declension of coll (first declension, no plural)

bare forms singular nominative coll vocative a choill genitive coill dative coll forms with the definite article singular nominative an coll genitive an choill dative leis an gcoll don choll

Derived terms

• cnó coill
• collchnó
• crann coill

Mutation

Mutated forms of coll

radical	lenition	eclipsis
coll	choll	gcoll

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “coll”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkol̪/

Etymology 1

coll

From Proto-Celtic *koslos (“hazel”), from Proto-Indo-European *kóslos (“hazel”) (compare Welsh cyll).

Noun

coll m

1. hazel (tree or shrub of the genus Corylus)

Inflection

Masculine o-stem

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	coll	collL	cuillL
vocative	cuill	collL	culluH
accusative	collN	collL	culluH
genitive	cuillL	coll	collN
dative	cullL	collaib	collaib

Initial mutations of a following adjective:

• ^H = triggers aspiration
• ^L = triggers lenition
• ^N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Irish: coll
• Manx: coull
• Scottish Gaelic: coll

Etymology 2

From Proto-Celtic *koldom (“destruction”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂- (“to break”).

Noun

coll n

1. destruction, injury, violation

Inflection

Neuter o-stem

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	collN	collN	collL, colla
vocative	collN	collN	collL, colla
accusative	collN	collN	collL, colla
genitive	cuillL	coll	collN
dative	cullL	collaib	collaib

Initial mutations of a following adjective:

• ^H = triggers aspiration
• ^L = triggers lenition
• ^N = triggers nasalization

Derived terms

• coillid (“to destroy”)
  • Irish: caill (“to lose”)

Descendants

• Middle Irish: coll, call m, coill, caill f
  • Scottish Gaelic: coll m (“destruction”)
  • Irish: caill f (“loss”)
  • Manx: coayl m (“loss”)

Mutation

Mutation of coll

radical	lenition	nasalization
coll	choll	coll pronounced with /ɡ-/

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 coll (‘hazel tree’)”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “2 coll (‘destruction’)”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Scottish Gaelic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʰɔul̪ˠ/

Etymology 1

From Old Irish coll (“hazel”), from Proto-Celtic *koslos (“hazel”) (compare Welsh cyll).

Noun

coll m (genitive coill)

1. hazel (tree)
2. (obsolete) the letter C in the Ogham alphabet

Etymology 2

From Old Irish coll (“destruction”), from Proto-Celtic *koldom (“destruction”).

Noun

coll m

1. destruction

Mutation

Mutation of coll

radical	lenition
coll	choll

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Scottish Gaelic.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Welsh

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /kɔɬ/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /koːɬ/, /kɔɬ/
• Rhymes: -ɔɬ

Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *koldom (“destruction”).

Noun

coll m (uncountable)

1. loss

   Synonyms: aball, methiant, diffyg, pall

Adjective

coll (feminine singular coll, plural coll, not comparable)

1. lost, missing

Derived terms

• pengoll (“headless”)

Etymology 2

See cyll (“hazel”).

Noun

coll (plural, singular collen f)

1. (obsolete) hazel
2. (obsolete) twig

Derived terms

• (current) cyll (“hazel”)
• mapgoll (“avens”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of coll

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
coll	goll	ngholl	choll

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “coll”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

Wolof

Noun

coll (definite form coll bi)

1. summit, peak, tip
2. cormorant

References

• Fal, Arame; Santos, Rosine; Doneux, Jean Léonce (1990), Dictionnaire wolof-français, Paris: Éditions KARTHALA, →ISBN, page 53