canaba

Forms

canaba f (genitive canabae); first declension^[1] It is also spelled cannaba, kanaba, canapa and canava.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][5] The TLL suggests it may be borrowed from Ancient Greek κάνναβος (kánnabos, “wooden framework for modelling”), although the senses recorded for the Greek word are different.^[2][5] Lewis and Short compare κάννα (kánna, “reed”) or καλύβη (kalúbē, “hut”).^[6][1] Wiktionary calls it a popular word of the Imperial period and mentions a possible Semitic source.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest dated record is a document of AD 142 drawn up at the canabae of a legion,^[2] the settlement of traders and veterans next to a permanent camp.^[2][1]

Semantic evolution

In the 2nd and 3rd centuries inscriptions use it for a hut or booth and, in the plural, for the civilian settlement beside a legionary fortress, whose people were the canabenses.^[2][3][1] It was also a store for wine or oil kept by a wholesale merchant, and a cellar or storeroom;^[3][7][2] Augustine has it in a sermon.^[3][7][2]

In medieval Latin it meant a wine cellar, storeroom or barn, a tavern, and a treasury;^[4][8] a feudum canavae was a fief paid in money.^[4] It lives on in Italian canova.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 142 AD – A document is dated at the canabae of a legion.^[2]
• 171–250 AD – An inscription from Virunum in Noricum spells it canapa.^[9]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of a storeroom.^[7][5]
• 5th century AD – Victor of Vita uses it of a lodging prepared for a halt.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hut, booth or light building.^[2][6]
2. (chiefly plural) The civilian settlement beside a legionary camp.^[2][1]
3. A wine store or cellar; a storeroom.^[3][2]
4. (Medieval Latin) A tavern.^[4]
5. (Medieval Latin) A treasury.^[4][8]

Word family

• canabārius
• canabensis
• canabula

Usage notes

In medieval sources canaba and its variants are also forms of cannabis “hemp”.^[5][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ Kaše, Vojtěch; Heřmánková, Petra; Sobotková, Adéla et al. (2024), LIST: Latin Inscriptions in Space and Time, v1.2 (EDCS + EDH), Aarhus: SDAM, doi:10.5281/zenodo.10473706