cana

Forms

cana f (plural canas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin canna (“small reed, cane”), from Ancient Greek κάννα (kánna, “reed; reed fence”).^[2][3][4][1] Houaiss notes that the botanical sense comes directly from the scientific genus name Canna (1735), and that sugar-cane spirit is named after the juice it is made from.^[2]

The same Latin word is Galician cana, Spanish caña, Catalan canya and Italian canna.^[5][6] Corominas observes that the Portuguese and Galician form keeps a plain /n/ where Spanish has the palatal ⟨ñ⟩.^[7]

The Greek word is borrowed from qanûm (“reed”).^[1][4] Wiktionary reports Beekes's view that it may have come through a Pre-Greek source, perhaps Anatolian.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin charters of the 9th and 11th centuries already have canas in place names (883, in an 11th-century copy, and 1032 porto de canas).^[8] Cunha dates the Portuguese word to the 13th century and Houaiss to the 14th, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese; the glossary of the Historia Troiana gives it the sense “stalk”.^[3][2][8]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) and Bluteau (1712–1728) describe the reed of damp places, and Morais (1789) adds the stalk of maize and wheat, the shin bone (cana da perna), the tiller (cana do leme) and the sugar cane.^[9][10][11] From the plant it came to mean things made of cane: a fishing rod, a walking stick, a flute.^[12][1] In Brazil cana is also sugar-cane spirit, cachaça, and in Portugal a fishing rod.^[2][13] The word passed into Nheengatu as kana.^[1]

Timeline

• 883 – canas in a place name in a Latin charter (11th-century copy).^[8]
• 13th century – Cunha's date for the first record.^[3]
• 14th century – Houaiss's date, from Cunha's medieval index.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders it with Latin arundo.^[14]
• 1789 – Morais lists cana da perna, cana do leme and cana de açúcar.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The jointed, often hollow stalk of grasses such as the bamboo (bambu) and the sugar cane; a cane or reed.^[2][13][1]
2. The sugar cane; short for cana-de-açúcar.^[2][1]
3. (Portugal) The giant reed (Arundo donax); cana-do-reino.^[2][15]
4. (botany) A canna, a plant of the genus Canna.^[2][1]
5. A fishing rod; a walking stick.^[2][12][1]
6. A long bone of the body: cana da perna “shin”, cana do nariz.^[13][12]
7. (Brazil, informal) Sugar-cane spirit, cachaça.^[2][13][1]
8. (Brazil, slang) jail: Foi parar na cana.^[13][16][1]
9. (Brazil, slang) The police;^[13][1] (masculine) a policeman.^[13][1]

Word family

• cana-de-açúcar
• canavial
• canada
• caniçada
• caninha
• caneta
• encanar
• canafrecha

Related words

• canal
• cano
• caniço
• cânula
• Latin canna
• Spanish caña

Usage notes

Houaiss treats the Brazilian slang cana “jail; the police; a policeman; a hard situation” as a separate word of obscure origin, while Aurélio and Aulete list these senses under cana the reed.^[2][13][16] Wiktionary compares the slang word with Rioplatense Spanish cana.^[1] Cana do leme is the tiller.^[2][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cana
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. cana
4. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. canna
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1597
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. canna
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 820
8. ^ a b c Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. cana
9. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cana
10. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cana
11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 223
12. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1721
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. cana
14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. cana
15. ^ Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. cana
16. ^ a b c Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. cana