assimilated form of the prefix COM-, CON-, before l; not used in the earliest L., which had con-, but afterwards regular, and so in modern Romanic and Eng., as L. conloquium, colloquium, COLLOQUY. For the general signification, see COM-.
As in the case of the parallel forms com- and con-, Latin words in coll- were in Pr., Sp., OFr., and early ME., reduced to col-, as in L. collecta, OF. coleite, ME. colet; so colacion, colege. With the revival of learning this was altered back to coll-; but only one l is sounded, and the unaccented syllable is apt to remain (ko-) or (kŏ-); as, however, there is usually an effort to show the effect of the l upon the vowel, when rhetorical or distinctive stress is put on the first syllable, we here use the symbolization kǭl-, implying that the full kǫl- may be developed under stress.
