canalis

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [kaˈnaː.lɪs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [kaˈnaː.lis]^[1]

Forms

canālis m (genitive canālis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is apparently from Latin canna (“reed”) + -ālis, from *cannālis.^[2][1] Latin canna is from Ancient Greek κάννα (kánna, “reed”), from Akkadian qanûm (“reed”).^[1] Lewis and Short also mention a link with Ancient Greek χαίνω (khaínō, “to gape”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Plautus first,^[4] who speaks of the braggarts who stand by the gutter in the middle of the forum.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was a pipe or channel for water, an open drain or gutter, the bed of a river, a groove for the moving parts of a machine, and a groove cut in wood or stone.^[2] It was usually masculine, rarely feminine.^[3]

In medieval British Latin it was a watercourse or canal, a river channel, a gutter, and the eucharistic reed.^[5] It survives in Italian canale and Spanish canal, and Old French chanel gave English channel in the early 14th century; English canal came through French in the early 15th century.^[1][6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the gutter in the forum.^[2][4]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a channel.^[7][4]
• early 14th century – English channel “bed of a stream” is recorded.^[6]
• early 15th century – English canal is recorded in anatomy.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A water pipe, conduit, channel.^[2]
2. An open drain, gutter.^[2]
3. The bed of a river.^[2]
4. A groove (in a machine, wood or stone).^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) A canal; the eucharistic reed.^[5]

Word family

• canālicius
• canālicola
• canālicula
• canāliculus
• canāliēnsis

Related words

• canāliculātus
• canna
• cannula
• English canal
• English channel
• English cane

Usage notes

Isidore derives it from its being hollow like a reed (canna), and says the feminine is better than the masculine.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).