Canaan
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editTaken (at least as early as Wycliffe's Bible, 1382-1395, which has Chanaan) from Ecclesiastical Latin Chanaān,[1] from Ancient Greek Χαναάν (Khanaán), expanded from Χνᾶ (Khnâ), from Hebrew כְּנַעַן (k'ná'an). The first vowel shifted from /aː/ to /eɪ/ in the Great Vowel Shift; at least as early as Milton (1660s), the word could already be pronounced with two syllables, though at least as late as the 1880s it could also be pronounced with three, /ˈkeɪ.nə.æn/.[2][3]
Pronunciation
editProper noun
editCanaan
- A historical region in the Middle East, roughly equivalent to Palestine.
- (biblical) A grandson of Noah.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 10:15-18::
- And Canaan begat Sidon his first born, and Heth, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
- (rare) A male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.
- The name of multiple places in North America named after the historic region, including:
- A town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States.
- A number of townships in the United States, listed under Canaan Township.
Derived terms
editTranslations
edithistoric region
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grandson of Noah
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References
edit- ^ “Canaan”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022., which (incorrectly) dates the borrowing to the early 1600s
- ^ Joseph Thomas, Thomas Baldwin, A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer, Or, Geographical Dictionary (1880), page 361: "Canaan, kà´nạn or kà´nạ-an, a name applied in Scripture to the Promised Land of the Israelites." (The addition of 1868, page 349, has "CANAAN, ká´nạn or ká´nạ-an, a name applied in Scripture to the 'Promised Land'".) This corresponds to /ˈkeɪ.nən/, /ˈkeɪ.nə.æn/. George Walter Baynham, Baynham's Elocution, select readings (1883), page 11, says "Pronounce the vowel sound as in fat: — Canaan, banian, tapestry, […] ".
- ^ John Walker, A Key to the Classical Pronunciation of Greek, Latin, and Scripture (1807), page 232 (re the pronunciation with three syllables existing and being accented on the antepenult) and page 174 (re Milton using it with two syllables).
Anagrams
editCategories:
- English terms derived from Ecclesiastical Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English terms derived from Hebrew
- English 2-syllable words
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English proper nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- en:Historical and traditional regions
- en:Biblical characters
- English terms with rare senses
- English given names
- English male given names
- English male given names from Hebrew
- en:Towns in Connecticut, USA
- en:Towns in the United States
- en:Places in Connecticut, USA
- en:Places in the United States
- en:Townships
- en:Ancient Near East
- en:Individuals