κάναστρον

Forms

κᾰ́νᾰστρον (kánastron) n (genitive κᾰνᾰ́στρου); second declension^[1] Variants: καναῦστρον, κάνυστρον, κάνιστρον and κάνασθον.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

Beekes lists it among the derivatives from Ancient Greek κάννα (kánna, “reed”), beside κανοῦν (kanoûn) “reed basket”, with variants in -αυστρον (-austron), -ιστρον (-istron) and -υστρον (-ustron).^[3] Wiktionary also derives it from the word for reed with the instrument suffix -τρον (-tron).^[1] Bailly derives it from κάνης (kánēs) “reed mat”, Babiniotis from the basket word κάνεον (káneon), itself from the word for reed, because the basket was woven of reeds.^[5][6] Beekes compares the formation of ζύγαστρον (zúgastron).^[3]

Κάννα itself Beekes traces to Babylonian-Assyrian Akkadian qanû (“reed”), but he also marks it as Pre-Greek: Furnée points out that κάναθρον (kánathron) and the like are clearly Pre-Greek formations, and the Mycenaean form shows the ⟨α⟩/⟨ο⟩ variation typical of Pre-Greek words.^[3] Chæréphon compares the Mycenaean word Mycenaean Greek ka-na-to, with a query.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest instance is in the Homeric epigram on a potters' kiln (also counted among Hesiod's fragments), where it means an earthen vessel or dish.^[2][8][9]

Semantic evolution

Hesychius and Photius gloss it as a dish (τρύβλιον (trúblion)), and Hesychius also as a potsherd and a basket.^[10][11] An inscription from the sanctuary of Asclepius at Lebena in Crete (2nd century BC) has it for a basket-shaped earthenware vessel, and LSJ gives the sense “wicker basket”, equal to κάνεον.^[7][2] The comic poet Nicophon also uses it of a dish.^[2] Pollux cites it as κάναστρον and κάνυστρον, and a papyrus of the 4th or 5th century AD has the form κάνιστρον.^[2]

The form κάνιστρον was borrowed as Latin canistrum, a basket.^[3][12] Modern Greek κάνιστρο (kánistro) “basket” is a learned word continuing that form.^[13][6]

Timeline

• Archaic period – The Homeric epigram on the kiln uses it of earthen vessels.^[2][8]
• 2nd century BC – An inscription from Lebena in Crete records it for a basket-shaped clay vessel.^[7]
• 2nd century AD – Pollux lists it with the variant κάνυστρον.^[2][8]
• 4th–5th century AD – A London papyrus has the form κάνιστρον.^[2]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses it as a sherd, a dish and a basket.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wicker basket, the same as κάνεον.^[2][14]
2. An earthen vessel or dish, often basket-shaped.^[2][7][5]

Related words

• κάννα (kánna)
• κανοῦν (kanoûn)
• κάνης (kánēs)
• Latin canistrum

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
5. ^ a b Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
6. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ a b c d Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica
8. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
11. ^ Photius, Lexicon, ed. Christos Theodoridis, vol. 1 (Α–Δ) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982); ed. Richard Porson (Cambridge, 1822)
12. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
13. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
14. ^ Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg