COLOPHONIAN/kɒləˈfəʊnɪən/

Relating to a colophon.

Colophon, a weird-enough word in its own right, is the name for the inscription at the end of a book that gives facts about its publication or design — hence the old saying “from title page to colophon”, from beginning to end. These days the information is more frequently on the title page and its reverse and the word is often used instead for a publisher’s emblem on the spine or title page and so a publisher’s imprint. The word colophonian in the sense above doesn’t exist in the language: it was originally a mistake for Colophonian (with a capital C), which means “an inhabitant of Colophon”, a town in Lydia that is part of modern Turkey. However, the word could still be redeemed — there isn’t one now that means “relating to a colophon” (even though there is the word colophonize, to give a book a colophon), and this is as good a candidate as any. Colophon and its relatives come ultimately from a Greek word meaning “finishing touch”. None is to be confused with colophony, a pine resin which is named after ancient Colophon.

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