1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Colon (anatomy)

COLON, (1) (Gr. κόλον, miswritten and mispronounced as κῶλον, the term being taken from κόλος, curtailed), in anatomy, that part of the greater intestine which extends from the caecum to the rectum (see Alimentary Canal). (2.) (Gr. κῶλον, a member or part), originally in Greek rhetoric a short clause longer than the “comma,” hence a mark (:), in punctuation, used to show a break in construction greater than that marked by the semicolon (;), and less than that marked by the period or full stop. The sign is also used in psalters and the like to mark off periods for chanting. The word is applied in palaeography to a unit of measure in MSS., amounting in length to a hexameter line.