Sunday Word: Colloquy

[sallymn]

colloquy [kol-uh-kwee]

noun:
1 the act of conversing; a conversation; a routine, highly formalized conversation
2 a formal conversation or conference
3 a literary work in dialogue form

Examples:

The quiet, ruined image house, clearly from the Anuradhapura period in a green glade is home to three life-sized rock carved figures; their features faded by time. A Buddha statue seems to be in colloquy with a regally adorned pair adorned with jewellery. (Yomal Senerath-Yapa, Muhudu Maha Vihara: Where history and mystery still lie buried , The Sunday Times, July 2022)

And the written Ramayana is full of references to the story’s roots, where characters will pause to narrate other related stories, or sages will have a colloquy about the story within the story. (Vaishnavi Patel, Translating the Magical Imperfection of Oral Tradition to the Page, Literary Hub, April 2022)

Then the resplendent aura of my brother of light drew near and held colloquy with me, soul to soul, with silent and perfect interchange of thought. (H P Lovecraft, 'Beyond The Wall Of Sleep')

"Then I am off for him," said Sancho; and leaving his master he went in quest of the bachelor, with whom he returned in a short time, and, all three together, they had a very droll colloquy. (Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote)

And as she appeared to abandon herself entirely to her grief, as she threw herself down, almost fainting, exhausted by complaints and prayers, D'Artagnan, touched by this love for his so much regretted friends, made a few steps towards the grave, in order to interrupt the melancholy colloquy of the penitent with the dead. (Alexandre Dumas, The Man in the Iron Mask)

Origin:

mid-15c, 'a discourse,' from Latin colloquium 'conference, conversation,' literally 'a speaking together,' from assimilated form of com 'together' + -loquium 'speaking,' from loqui 'to speak' (from PIE root tolkw- 'to speak'). Meaning 'conversation' is attested in English from 1580s. (Online Etymology Dictionaty)

Colloquy may make you think of colloquial, and there is indeed a connection between the two words. As a matter of fact, colloquy is the parent word from which colloquial was coined in the mid-18th century. Colloquy itself, though now the less common of the two words, has been a part of the English language since the 15th century. It is a descendant of Latin loquī, meaning 'to speak'. Other descendants of loquī in English include eloquent, loquacious, ventriloquism, and soliloquy, as well as elocution and interlocutor. (Merriam Webster)