English

Noun

colloquium ‎(plural colloquiums or colloquia)

1. A colloquy; a meeting for discussion.
2. An academic meeting or seminar usually led by a different lecturer and on a different topic at each meeting.
3. An address to an academic meeting or seminar.
4. (law) That part of the complaint or declaration in an action for defamation which shows that the words complained of were spoken concerning the plaintiff.

Usage notes

Note that while colloquial refers specifically to informal conversation, colloquy and colloquium refer instead to formal conversation.

Quotations

• 1876: Stephen Dowell, A History of Taxation and Taxes in England, I. 87.

  Writs were issued to London and the other towns principally concerned, directing the mayor and sheriffs to send to a colloquium at York two or three citizens with full power to treat on behalf of the community of the town.

Translations

References

• colloquium in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Latin

Alternative forms

• conloquium

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /kolˈlo.kʷi.um/, [kɔɫˈɫɔ.kᶣi.ũ]

Noun

colloquium n ‎(genitive colloquiī); second declension

1. conversation
2. discussion
3. interview
4. conference
5. parley

Inflection

Second declension.

Descendants

• French: colloque
• Polish: kolokwium
• Russian: колло́квиум ‎(kollókvium)
• Spanish: coloquio

References

• colloquium in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• COLLOQUIUM in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to appoint a date for an interview: diem dicere colloquio
    
  • to ask a hearing, audience, interview: aditum conveniendi or colloquium petere
    
  • to obtain an audience of some one: (ad colloquium) admitti (B. C. 3. 57)