collum

Collum, colli, n., second declension. The one habit to watch is poetic: verse regularly uses the plural colla for a single neck, so colla dedit does not mean a creature with several. A masculine byform collus turns up in early comedy.

The neck is where Latin puts submission. Iugum collo imponere is to impose a yoke, dare colla is to submit, and in collo esse is to be at someone's throat, close on their heels. Do not connect it with collis, "hill", or with colo, "cultivate"; the resemblance is accidental. Italian collo, French cou and Spanish cuello descend from it, and English gets collar, decollation and, at one remove, accolade, an embrace about the neck.