κάννα

Forms

κᾰ́ννᾰ (kánna) f (genitive κᾰ́ννης); first declension^[1] Ionic κάννη.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Akkadian qanû (“reed”), a word that may itself come from Sumerian.^[2][4][5] Rosół counts it among the Semitic loanwords in Greek, and PHILOGLOSSA rates the Semitic origin as very reliable.^[5][6] Beekes adds that it may have come through a Pre-Greek or Anatolian intermediary: the related κάνναθρον (kánnathron) is a clearly Pre-Greek formation, the word varies between ⟨ν⟩ and ⟨νν⟩, and the Mycenaean form of the derivative κανών (kanṓn), Mycenaean Greek ko-no-ni-pi, shows a variation between a and o.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Old Comedy, in Cratinus and Eupolis, of a reed mat, and Aristophanes' Wasps has the plural for a reed fence.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

A Delphic inscription of the 4th century BC records the price of reeds, probably for making pens, and Polybius uses the word for the pole-reed, Arundo donax.^[3][6] Hesychius glosses the plural as mats and Egyptian wickerwork.^[5] The word had many derivatives: κανοῦν (kanoûn) (Ionic κάνεον (káneon)), the reed basket of the Iliad, with κανηφόρος (kanēphóros) “basket-bearer”, and κάναστρον (kánastron), whose variant κάνιστρον (kánistron) is Latin canistrum.^[2]

The word itself was borrowed as Latin canna “reed”.^[2][8][4] Medieval Greek kept κάννα, and it lives on in Cypriot.^[9] Modern Greek κάννη (kánni) is the barrel of a gun.^[10][1]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – Hipponax has the derivative καννητοποιός (kannētopoiós) “reed-mat maker”.^[2][11]
• 5th century BC – Cratinus and Eupolis use it for a reed mat.^[3][6][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses the plural for a reed fence.^[3][12][11]
• 4th century BC – An inscription at Delphi records the price of reeds.^[3][6]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for the pole-reed.^[3][11]
• Modern Greek – κάννη (kánni) is the barrel of a gun.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Reed, the pole-reed or giant cane, Arundo donax.^[3][2]
2. A reed mat.^[3]
3. (plural) A reed fence.^[3]

Word family

• κανοῦν (kanoûn)
• κάνεον (káneon)
• κάνης (kánēs)
• κανηφόρος (kanēphóros)
• κανίσκος (kanískos)
• κάναστρον (kánastron)
• κάνιστρον (kánistron)
• κάνναθρον (kánnathron)

Related words

• κανών (kanṓn)
• Latin canna

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
6. ^ a b c d e Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
7. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
12. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux