Etymology

collocation

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Today it means: The grouping or juxtaposition of things, especially words or sounds. Full definition →

Latin collocātiō ← Old Latin stlocus ← Proto-Italic *s(t)lokos
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
  3. Proto-Italic*kom
  4. Proto-Italic*kom-
  5. Latincon-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*stel-der.?
  7. Proto-Italic*s(t)lokos
  8. Old Latinstlocus
  9. Latinlocus
  10. Latinlocō
  11. Latincollocō
  12. Latincollocātiō
  13. English todaycollocation

Learned borrowing from Latin collocātiō (“a putting together”). By surface analysis, col- (“together”) + location. The technical sense in linguistics was established in 1951, although it may actually be earlier. First attested in 1605.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.