LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · masculinesecond declension

colōnus

colōnus m (genitive colōnī, feminine colōna)
Classical[kɔˈɫoː.nʊs]Ecclesiastical[koˈlɔː.nus]
Mille Verba core vocabulary

Meaning

  1. farmer, especially a kind of tenant farmer or sharecropper; husbandman; tiller of the soil
    Near-synonyms: agricola, arātor
    frūgibus immēnsīs avidōs satiāte colōnōs,Satisfy eager farmers with abundant crops, that they may reap rewards worthy of their labors.8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 1.677–678
  2. colonist, colonial, inhabitant
    Colonos novos ascribere.To appoint new inhabitants.

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

agricola quī in fundō aliēnō habitat et labōrat.
colōnus -ī m — in Mille Verba, Rūs et Agrīcultūra
agricola agrī aliēnī
colōnus -ī (m) — in Epistulae, ch. 22

Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms

Incolere · Habitare · Incola · Inquilinus · Colonus

1. Incolere is transitive, as to inhabit; habitare, intransitive, as to dwell. At the same time incolere has reference to the country, to which a man, as a citizen or inhabitant, belongs; whereas habitare has reference to the house, in which a man, as owner or tenant, has his stationary residence. 2. Incola is the inhabitant, in opp. to the citizen, Cic. Off. i. 34, like μέτοικος; inquilinus, the tenant, in opp. to the owner of the house, dominus, Cic. Phil. ii. 41, like σύνοικος; colonus, the farmer, in opp. to the landowner, Cic. Cæc. 32; something like θής.

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativecolōnuscolōnī
genitivecolōnīcolōnōrum
dativecolōnōcolōnīs
accusativecolōnumcolōnōs
ablativecolōnōcolōnīs
vocativecolōnecolōnī

Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book

colōnos mittere (Div. 1. 1. 3)
to send out colonists.

cŏlōnus, i, m. colo.
I. A husbandman, tiller of the soil (opp. pastor), Cato, R. R. prooem. § 2; Varr. R. R. 2, prooem. § 5; id. L. L. 5, § 21 Müll.; Cic. de Or. 2, 71, 287; Hor. C. 1, 35, 6; 2, 14, 12; id. S. 2, 1, 35; 2, 2, 115; Verg. E. 9, 4; id. G. 1, 125; Ov. M. 1, 272; Sen. Ep. 114, 25.—
B. Esp., a farmer, one who cultivates another's land, Caes. B. C. 1, 34; Cic. Caecin. 32, 94; Col. 1, 7, 1; Plin. Ep. 10, 8 (24), 5; Dig. 19, 2, 15 al. —
II. A colonist, inhabitant of a colonial town, ἄποικος, Cic. Agr. 2, 28, 75; id. Phil. 2, 40, 102; id. N. D. 3, 19, 48; Nep. Milt. 1, 1; Liv. 4, 11, 3 sq.; 9, 26, 3 and 5; Verg. A. 1, 12 al.; Hor. C. 2, 6, 5; Vell. 1, 14, 6.—
b. Poet., for an inhabitant in gen., Verg. A. 7, 63; 7, 410.—Humorously: catenarum, Plaut. As. 2, 2, 32.

Origins

From the root of colō (“to cultivate, till; inhabit”). The source of the ending -ōnus is uncertain. Leumann 1977 proposes a formation from agricola, remodeled by analogy to patrōnus. Alternatively, De Vaan 2008 tentatively suggests it could go back to Proto-Italic *kʷolō-no-, a deinstrumental formation built from the singular instrumental form *kʷolh₁-oh₁ of an o-stem action noun *kʷólh₁-o- + the adjective-forming suffix *-no- (Latin -nus). Ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel(h₁)-.

Descendants
  • Catalancolon
  • Frenchcolon
  • Italiancolono
  • Portuguesecolono
  • Spanishcolono
  • Fingallianculleenfrom Anglo-Norman colloun
  • Irishcoilíneachfrom Anglo-Norman colloun
  • Sicilianculunu

Quick answers

What does colōnus mean in Latin?
colōnus, a noun, means “farmer, especially a kind of tenant farmer or sharecropper; husbandman; tiller of the soil”.
What is the genitive of colōnus?
The genitive singular is colōnī. colōnus is masculine, second declension.
How do you pronounce colōnus?
In classical Latin, [kɔˈɫoː.nʊs]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [koˈlɔː.nus].