column [LME] Column comes from Latin columna, which shares a root with celsus ‘high’ found in excel [LME]. The senses of an architectural support and a section of writing appeared in English about the same time, and it is from the latter that we get the sense of a regular piece in a newspaper in the late 18th century, with columnist early 20th century. The use for an upright mass of water, air, smoke, etc. is first recorded in Milton in 1671, and for parts of the body such as the spinal column in 1828.