canna

Forms

canna f (plural canne)^[1] Old Italian forms include cana, chana and channa.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin canna (“small reed”), from Ancient Greek κάννα (kánna, “reed”).^[3][4][5][6] The Greek word was borrowed from Semitic: Nocentini names Biblical Hebrew קָנֶה (qāneh) and Akkadian qanû, which are traced back to a Sumerian word.^[4][1] DELI calls the Greek word Assyro-Babylonian in origin.^[3] Isidore of Seville already held that Latin took the word from Hebrew.^[7]

The Latin word lives on in every Romance language except Romanian: Friulian ciàne, Romansh channa, French canne, Old Occitan cana, Catalan canya, Spanish caña, Portuguese cana and Sardinian kánna.^[8][9] The French word (13th century) was taken from Occitan; in northern French the native word was replaced by French roseau, of Germanic origin.^[10][4] The sense “throat” was already Latin and survives in Rome, northern Italy and southern France.^[8][9] The old measure of length, recorded at Farfa in 957, was named after the rod used for measuring.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Savona document of 1178–82.^[2][4] DELI's earliest dated sense, about 1180, is “fishing rod”, in the Dichiarazione di Paxia.^[3]

Semantic evolution

DELI dates the other main senses: a unit of measure (early 13th century, Uguccione da Lodi), the throat or windpipe (about 1300, in the Urbino lauds), the plant itself (before 1266, Ubertino d'Arezzo), a stick or staff (14th century), an organ pipe (before 1519, Leonardo) and the barrel of a firearm (1532, Ariosto).^[3] Old Italian already had povero in canna “very poor”, from the little worth of the material, and canna del polmone for the windpipe.^[2] Recent slang uses canna for a cannabis cigarette.^[7][1]

The word has many derivatives: cannuccia (Dante), canneto (1287), cannone (1306 “large cane”, from 1514–20 “cannon”), cannella, the spice named for its rolled bark, and cannocchiale (17th century).^[4][3] Scannare “to cut the throat” (about 1190) is formed from canna in the sense “throat”.^[4] English borrowed the word as the name of a garden plant.^[1]

Timeline

• 957 – The measure canna is recorded in Medieval Latin at Farfa.^[10]
• 1178–1182 – Canna appears in a Savona document.^[2]
• c. 1180 – The Dichiarazione di Paxia uses the word for a fishing rod.^[3]
• Before 1266 – Ubertino d'Arezzo uses it for the plant.^[3]
• c. 1300 – The Urbino lauds use it for the throat.^[3]
• Before 1519 – Leonardo uses it for an organ pipe.^[3]
• 1532 – Ariosto uses it for the barrel of a firearm.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. reed, cane: any of several tall grasses with a hollow stem that grow by rivers and in marshes, especially the giant reed (Arundo donax).^[5][11][12]
2. The stem of such a plant, used as a stake or for weaving: Legò i pomodori alle canne.^[5][13]
3. A walking stick: una canna di bambù.^[5][13]
4. A fishing rod (canna da pesca); by extension, an angler.^[5][12]
5. A tube or pipe: la canna fumaria, le canne dell'organo.^[5][13][14]
6. The barrel of a firearm: colpo in canna.^[5][13]
7. The crossbar of a bicycle frame.^[5][13]
8. (historical) An old unit of length that differed from region to region.^[13][1]
9. (colloquial) The throat: gridare con tutto il fiato che si ha in canna.^[13][2]
10. (slang) A joint, a cannabis cigarette.^[1][7]
11. (botany) The genus Canna, ornamental plants with large leaves.^[5][12]

Word family

• cannone
• cannella
• cannello
• cannellone
• canneto
• canniccio
• cannolo
• cannuccia
• cannula
• cannocchiale
• incannare
• scannare

Related words

• tracannare
• Latin canna
• French canne

Usage notes

Common phrases are povero in canna “penniless”, tremare come una canna “to shake like a leaf” and essere come una canna al vento “to be easily swayed”.^[12][14][15] An old canna meaning a vessel or measure of volume (Rome, 1319) goes back to a Late Latin canna “jug” of Germanic origin and is a different word.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 634
8. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 10, 1009
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 721
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli