canhão

Forms

canhão m (plural canhões)^[1] Houaiss records the plural canoes in 1443 and canom and canoões in the 15th century.^[2] Bluteau spells it canhaõ.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish cañón, which in turn comes from Italian cannone, according to Houaiss and Cunha.^[2][4] Houaiss dates the Italian word to the 14th century as “thick tube” and to 1514–1520 as “piece of artillery”, and the Spanish word to 1535 as a military term.^[2] The DELI gives the same Italian dates.^[5] Wiktionary and the Aurélio leave open whether the Portuguese word came from Italian or from Spanish.^[1][6] The DLP instead treats the Spanish word as an augmentative of caño (“pipe”).^[7] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of caña (“reed”), from about 1400, with the sense “tube for firing projectiles” from 1535.^[8] Vieira (1871) held that it was impossible to say which Romance language the word came from.^[9]

The Italian word is an augmentative of canna (“reed, cane, tube”), from Latin canna (“reed, tube, flute”).^[2][1] The Latin word is a borrowing of Ancient Greek κάννα (kánna, “reed”).^[1] Wiktionary traces the Greek word to an Akkadian word for reed, and Beekes notes that it may have come through a Pre-Greek, perhaps Anatolian, source.^[1][10]

The sense “canyon” has another source: Houaiss takes it from the same Spanish word in that sense, older callón (1560–1575), of uncertain origin according to Corominas, perhaps from calle (“street”), from callis (“narrow path”).^[2][11] Its doublet is the borrowing cânion.^[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is the plural canoes, of 1443, and Cunha dates the plural to the 15th century with the sense “piece of artillery; tube for firing projectiles”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) describes the cannon used in sieges, both to attack and to defend towns, and names its parts.^[3] Morais (1789) adds two senses from the shape of a tube: the thickest feathers of the wings of a bird of prey, and a part of a horse's bit.^[12] Vieira explains the first as a term of falconry, quoting Diogo Fernandes Ferreira.^[9] The turned-up end of a sleeve or boot is in Caldas Aulete's first edition and in Figueiredo (1899).^[13][14]

Caldas Aulete also recorded a slang sense “harlot” in the Minho, a familiar “heavy, pretentious woman” and a Brazilian popular “old ugly woman”.^[13] The insult survives in Brazil for a very ugly person.^[2][1] Brazilian football calls a very hard kick, and a player who kicks very hard, a canhão.^[2] The geological “canyon” and the cylinder of a lock are modern senses.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1443 – first record, the plural canoes.^[2]
• 15th century – the forms canom and canoões.^[2]
• 1638 – first record of the verb canhonear.^[4]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the cannon and its parts.^[3]
• 1789 – Morais adds the thick feathers of a bird of prey and a part of a horse's bit.^[12]
• 1813 – first record of canhonaço “cannon shot”, taken from Spanish cañonazo.^[4]
• 1844 – canhoneira is first recorded for a small warship.^[4]
• 1871 – Vieira declares the immediate source of the word uncertain.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (military) A cannon, a large-calibre piece of artillery.^[2][6]
2. The thick part of the shaft of a bird's wing feather; a young feather still in its sheath.^[2][6]
3. The turned-back end of a sleeve, glove or boot: o canhão da bota.^[2][6]
4. A part of a horse's bit.^[2][12]
5. The hollow metal cylinder at the entrance of some locks.^[2][6]
6. (geology) A canyon, a deep, winding valley cut by a river; cânion.^[2][6]
7. (photography, theatre) A powerful spotlight on a movable stand.^[2][6]
8. (Brazil, football) A very hard kick; a player who kicks very hard.^[2]
9. (informal) A very ugly person, usually a woman.^[2][1]

Word family

• canhonear
• canhoneio

Related words

• canhonada
• cânion
• cana
• canhonaço
• canhoneira
• Italian cannone
• Spanish cañón

Usage notes

Wiktionary records the sense “woman of the night” in the Azores, close to the old slang sense “harlot” that Caldas Aulete gave for the Minho.^[1][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. canhão
3. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. canhaõ
4. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. canhão
5. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. canhão
7. ^ 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. canhão
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. caña
9. ^ a b c Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 2, 80
10. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cañón
12. ^ a b c 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, 226
13. ^ 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. canhão
14. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. canhão