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E 0144 CANE
The word " cane " is, via Old French and Latin, of Greek origin .
H 0763 ה נ
ק
Concept of root : cane
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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ה נ ק
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cané
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cane
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Related English words
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cane,
from Greek via Latin
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Comparison between European words and
Hebrew
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Languages
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Words
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Pronunciation
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English meanings
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Similarity in roots
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Hebrew
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ה נ ק
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cané
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cane
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q . n .
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Greek
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καννα
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kanna
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cane
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k . n
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Latin
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canna
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cane
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c . n
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English
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cane
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cane
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c . n
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Dutch
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knok
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knok
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cane-joint
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k . n . k
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Middle Dutch
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canele, cneel
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canele, cneel
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cane;
cinnamon
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c . n . l
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Proto-Semitic *QANÀ --- *KĂNN- Indo-European
As one might expect, these words are so much alike that Greek scholars speak about a loanword. Some say from Sumeric, others say from Accadian "qanu", that would be just similar to Ancient Hebrew. Again other scholars say that the word "qanu" was Babylonian and that the "Sumerian-Akkadian" word was "gin". The Sumerians have been conquered by the Akkadians and after that they formed a reign together. There is debate as to how to place the Sumeric language, but most say it is not Semitic. The Akkads or Akkadians were Semites and their language had to be akin to Hebrew.
Our impression is that, when similar words are seen between Greek and Semitic, the tendency is to speak about loanwords. But we now know that there has been a common origin for Indo-European and Semitic, and this is just confirmed if we find similarities in language. Naturally there are recognizable cases of loanword, especially from Greek into Hebrew.
Note:
- English "cane" shares its various meanings with Hebrew "qané".
Note:
- Greek also uses the version "καννη , kannè" more like Hebrew, and " καννης, kannès" has remained the genitive of "kanna".
But we find also words that begin with " καν- , kan-" and are linked to the concept of "cane" as a plant. Examples are "κάνεον , kaneon =basket" and "κάνης , kanès = mat of cane". These words, also with their single N, make it more probable that "kannè" is a normal Greek word that enjoys just a common origin with Semitic words.
Note:
- Proto-Semitic. This root is found in Phoenician "ק נ א , Q N Aleph" and in Aramaic and Syriac "ק נ י א, qanià". Arabic has "qanā". These languages, besides the original meaning, often use the derived meaning of "spear shaft". Akkadian "qanū" says simply "reed", but Ethiopian "qanōt" has another derived meaning , "to goad". The root was probably used in Proto-Semitic: "*ק נ א , Q N + H ( accentuated vowel) ".
Note:
- Dutch "knok", already in Middle Dutch seen as "cnocke" indicates the typical joints or knots one sees in cane. It is nearly the same as "knook" that means " bone, joint". One may have inspired the other. See entry number E 0512 (Hebrew 0764).
The second and final K may have been a repetition of the first one in order to diversify or else in development of pronunciation without changing the meaning . The interesting thing lies in this particular similarity between Germanic and Hebrew , conserved specifically in Dutch.
Note:
- Dutch has a word "kaneel" that says "cinnamon". The usual reasoning is that "kaneel", in Middle Dutch "canele" comes via French "cannelle" from a Latin diminutive "cannella", a word still found in Italian today, with sisters in other Neo-Latin languages. The Romans already imported cinnamon, and it came from Ceylon. But they never gave it the name "cannella", for a simple reason. The cinnamon-tree, with the bark that gives this spice, is a high tree, up till nine meters.
The people from Ceylon took the bark and prepared the spice just as from the normal wild trees. But when the Dutch took over Ceylon, they began to grow little trees, with a very succesful kind of trimming. So they obtained, in the seventeenth century, the well-known small sticks of cinnamon. They found them look like cane. So they called them cane, with one of the words they used for cane : "canele". The origin of this word for "cane" in general hardly could have been French, and one would have a hard time in finding the word "cannella" in Latin at all. So the higher probability is that when the Dutch began to sell their product cinnamon succesfully all over Europe, the others accepted the Dutch word and adapted it to their own language.
A confirmation of this is found in another Middle Dutch word, "caneelstake" for "stick of cinnamon". Apparently the word "canele", meaning "cane" was not sufficient in itself to say "small cane", as the Latinistic suggestion surmises.
Note:
- Proto-Germanic.
The other Middle Dutch words "canele, caneel, cneel" that all mean "reed" are considered to have come from Latin. But in what way would this have happened? Latin "canna = reed" and then took practical meanings like "tube". Among these also "cannula", but specifically for "trachea". Another diminutive seems not to have existed in Latin. The suggestion that the loaning took place via Picardian French "chēneau" is very unconvincing.
Then there is another Germanic word, in German "Kanne" and Old High German "channa", that means "can, jar, jug" but also "boat". Old English had "canne". This Germanic word has been loaned into Latin, where it understandably became "canna", like the word for "reed". The meaning "boat" is semantically interesting if we compare it with Hebrew "kli", that can mean both "container" and "keel, boat".
Proto-Germanic certainly had a form "*K Ă N-". Then the suffix "-le" also in Germanic languages is used as a diminutive. Thus it is possible that instead of inventing loans from unexisting Latin words, we simply have for "reed" and "small reed" in Proto-Germanic "*K Ă N-". and "*K Ă N e L".
Note:
- Indo-European.
Latin has "canna", that usually is considered a loanword from the identical Greek word, but also already Old Latin "canalis < cannalis" for "tube, pipe" obviously indicating "reed-shaped", proving that basic "canna" was an Old Latin word. Consequently we can hypothesize an Indo-European "*K Ă NN-.
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 22/11/2012 at 13.59.48 |
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