- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Derivation
- First attested
- Pliny the Elder
- Ultimate origin
- Ancient Greek (κάννα)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Pronunciation
Forms
canālicius (feminine canālicia, neuter canālicium); first/second-declension adjective[1]
Etymology
It is from Latin canālis (“channel, shaft”) + -icius.[2][1] ⟨canālis⟩ is from ⟨*cannālis⟩, from canna (“reed, cane”), a borrowing of Ancient Greek κάννα (kánna, “reed”).[1]
Earliest recorded meaning
Its source is Pliny the Elder, aurum canālicium.[3][4][5] Köbler dates Pliny 23/24–79 AD.[4]
Semantic evolution
It meant derived from shafts, of gold dug out of mine shafts, the same as canāliēnsis, and Gaffiot takes aurum canālicium as a vein of a gold mine.[2][5][3]
Timeline
Meanings
Adjective
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
- ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry
“Canalicius.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/canalicius. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.
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