κανών

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ka.nɔ̌ːn/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /kaˈnon/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /kaˈnon/^[1]

Forms

κᾰνών (kanṓn) m (genitive κᾰνόνος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek: it is most often connected with κάννα (kánna, “reed”) as a “stave of reed”, and the variation of /a/ and /o/ shows a Pre-Greek word.^[2][3] Scarborough's database rates this very reliable.^[4] Mycenaean has Mycenaean Greek ko-no-ni-pi, /konōni-phi/.^[2]

Rosół, on the other hand, takes it as a Semitic loanword, probably borrowed independently of κάννα (kánna), comparing Akkadian qanû (“reed; a measure of length”) and Biblical Hebrew קָנֶה (qāne, “reed, measuring reed, balance”).^[5] Beekes and Frisk do not prefer the Semitic etymology.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mycenaean tablets have Mycenaean Greek ko-no-ni-pi.^[2] In Homer it is a straight rod: the staves that kept a shield in shape (Iliad 8.193, 13.407) and the weaver's rod (Iliad 23.761).^[7][4]

Semantic evolution

Masons and carpenters used it for the rule or straight-edge (Sophocles, Plato, Aeschines), and Aristotle speaks of a flexible lead rule.^[7] It was also the beam of a balance, a curtain-rod, the bars of a window and, in music, the monochord, on which Euclid wrote.^[7]

Figuratively it was a rule or standard: Euripides speaks of learning by the rule of the good, Aristotle calls the good man the rule and measure of what is noble and pleasant, and Demosthenes says freedom was the standard of good things for the earlier Greeks.^[7] Epicurus called his logic “the canon”, and Polyclitus' statue and treatise of ideal proportions were “the Canon”.^[7] It also meant a tax assessment.^[1]

Arabic The word was borrowed into Arabic as قانون (qānūn).^[1] Medieval Greek kept the word, and Modern Greek has κανόνας.^[8][9]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – Linear B has ko-no-ni-pi.^[2]
• Homer – The Iliad uses it for shield staves and a weaver's rod.^[7]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for a moral standard.^[7][10]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle calls the good man a rule and measure.^[7][10]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Epicurus names his logic “the canon”.^[7][10]
• Modern Greek – κανόνας means rule.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A straight rod, bar; the staves of a shield; a weaver's rod.^[7][1]
2. A ruler, straight-edge.^[7]
3. The beam of a balance; a curtain-rod; window bars.^[7]
4. (music) The monochord.^[7][1]
5. (figurative) A rule, standard, norm.^[7][1]
6. (art) A model of proportions.^[7][1]
7. A tax assessment.^[1]

Word family

• κανονίζω (kanonízō)
• κανονικός (kanonikós)

Related words

• English canon

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
5. ^ Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
6. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
10. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge