cană

Forms

cană f (plural căni)^[1] Besides căni an older plural cane occurs: „doao cane de cositoriu, cu coperiș” “two pewter jugs with lids” (Barac).^[2][3]

Etymology

The word for the cup or jug is borrowed from German Kanne (“jug, can”), according to Tamás, who holds German to be the main source, and to Tiktin and DELR.^[4][5][6] The DA, DEX and MDA2 add, or put first, borrowed from Bulgarian кана (kana), itself from the German word.^[2][7][3][8] Others name Serbo-Croatian kana or Hungarian kanna as the intermediary, but Tamás thinks Hungarian unlikely.^[6][4] Ciorănescu reports the German word through Slavic, as Cihac had it, or Latin canna, as Meyer thought; he rejects a direct Latin source, as the word is Germanic and probably late.^[9][10] Wiktionary calls the German source only possible.^[1]

The German word, Middle High German kanne, is perhaps borrowed from Medieval Latin canna (“vessel”), a sense shift of Latin “reed, pipe”; the reverse direction is not excluded.^[11] Ciorănescu notes Modern Greek κάννα (kánna), which passed into Aromanian.^[9] The DA names canată and cantă as its doublets.^[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is a text of 1640 printed in Pumnul's Lepturariu;^[5][6][2] DELR dates the word to about 1650, and the glossary of the Anonymus Caransebesiensis glosses kană with Latin cantharus.^[5][6][2] In Dosoftei, in 1682, someone brings another „o cană de apă” “a jug of water” once a week.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The vessel was at first mostly a jug or tankard, of clay, glass, porcelain or pewter, with a handle, for drawing wine or fetching water.^[2][12] A list of vessels of 1780 has „o cană de o cupă” “a jug of one cup”, and Barac has a jug of beer.^[2] The early dictionaries gloss it with cănceu and urcior “pitcher”; the Lexicon of Buda (1825) derives it from Latin cantharus, a view of its time.^[13][4] Scriban already describes a large cup for coffee with milk or tea.^[14] The word also names the contents of the vessel, and in spinning mills the cylinder into which the sliver of cotton, flax or hemp is laid.^[7][3] In Maramureș it was a dry measure for grain, of three or four litres.^[15]

Timeline

• 1640 – a text printed in Pumnul's Lepturariu, the first record.^[5]
• c. 1650 – kană, glossed cantharus, in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis.^[6][2]
• 1682 – „o cană de apă” “a jug of water” in Dosoftei.^[4]
• 1780 – „o cană de o cupă” in a list of vessels.^[2]
• 1871 – the diminutive cănuță.^[6]
• 1888 – the diminutive căniță.^[6]
• 1910 – the augmentative cănoaie.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mug, jug or large cup with a handle, for drinking or for drawing liquid from a larger vessel.^[7][3]
2. The contents of such a vessel: o cană de ceai “a mug of tea”.^[7][16]
3. (textiles) A cylindrical can into which the sliver of cotton, flax or hemp is laid at the cards and drawing frames of a spinning mill.^[7][3]
4. (regional, Maramureș) A dry measure for grain, of three or four litres.^[15]

Word family

• căniță
• cănoaie
• cănuță

Related words

• canată
• cantă
• cănceu
• German Kanne

Usage notes

The plural is căni.^[7] DEX has a separate cană (plural cane), the plant Indian shot (Canna indica), a borrowing from French canne;^[7][3] MDA2 dates it from DEX 1998 and also applies it regionally to busy Lizzie (Impatiens sultani).^[7][3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. cană
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 285
4. ^ a b c d e Tamás, Lajos (1966), Etymologisch-historisches Wörterbuch der ungarischen Elemente im Rumänischen, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, p. 162
5. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cánă
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. cană
7. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 138
8. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite
9. ^ a b c Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. cană
10. ^ Cihac, A. de (1879), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane II: Éléments slaves, magyars, turcs, grecs-moderne et albanais, Frankfurt am Main, p. 39
11. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter
12. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. cană
13. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 92
14. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 223
15. ^ a b Ștef, Dorin (2011), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din Maramureș, Baia Mare: Ethnologica, p. s.v. cană
16. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 323