英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

Canopus (n.)[Canopus 词源字典]: bright southern star, 1550s, ultimately from Greek Kanopos, Kanobos perhaps from Egyptian Kahi Nub "golden earth." The association with "weight" found in the name of the star in some northern tongues may reflect the fact that it never rises far above the horizon in those latitudes. Also the name of a town in ancient lower Egypt (famous for its temple of Serapis), hence canopic jar, canopic vase, which often held the entrails of embalmed bodies (1878).[Canopus etymology, Canopus origin, 英语词源]
canopy (n.): late 14c., from Old French conope "bed-curtain" (Modern French canapé), from Medieval Latin canopeum, dissimilated from Latin conopeum, from Greek konopeion "Egyptian couch with mosquito curtains," from konops "mosquito, gnat," which is of unknown origin. The same word (canape) in French, Spanish, and Portuguese now means "sofa, couch." Italian canape is a French loan word.
canopy (v.): c. 1600, from canopy (n.). Related: Canopied; canopying.
cant (n.1): "insincere talk," 1709, earlier it was slang for "whining of beggars" (1640s), from the verb in this sense (1560s), from Old North French canter (Old French chanter) "to sing, chant," from Latin cantare, frequentative of canere "to sing" (see chant (v.)). Sense in English developed after 1680 to mean the jargon of criminals and vagabonds, thence applied contemptuously by any sect or school to the phraseology of its rival.
... Slang is universal, whilst Cant is restricted in usage to certain classes of the community: thieves, vagrom men, and -- well, their associates. ... Slang boasts a quasi-respectability denied to Cant, though Cant is frequently more enduring, its use continuing without variation of meaning for many generations. [John S. Farmer, Forewords to "Musa Pedestris," 1896]
cant (n.2): "slope, slant," late 14c., Scottish, "edge, brink," from Old North French cant "corner" (perhaps via Middle Low German kante or Middle Dutch kant), from Vulgar Latin *canthus, from Latin cantus "iron tire of a wheel," possibly from a Celtic word meaning "rim of wheel, edge" (compare Welsh cant "bordering of a circle, tire, edge," Breton cant "circle"), from PIE *kam-bo- "corner, bend," from root *kemb- "to bend, turn, change" (cognates: Greek kanthos "corner of the eye," Russian kutu "corner").
cantabile (adj.): 1724, from Italian, literally "singable, that can be sung," from cantare "to sing" (see chant (v.)).
Cantabrigian (adj.): "pertaining to Cambridge," 1540s, from Medieval Latin Cantabrigia (see Cambridge) + -an.
cantaloupe (n.): also cantaloup, 1739, from French, from Italian, from Cantalupo, name of a former Papal summer estate near Rome, where the melons first were grown in Europe after their introduction (supposedly from Armenia). The place name seems to be "singing wolf" and might refer to a spot where wolves gathered, but this might be folk etymology.
cantankerous (adj.): 1772, said to be "a Wiltshire word," probably from an alteration (influenced by raucous) of Middle English contakour "troublemaker" (c. 1300), from Anglo-French contec "discord, strife," from Old French contechier (Old North French contekier), from con- "with" + teche, related to atachier "hold fast" (see attach). With -ous. Related: Cantankerously; cantankerousness.
cantata (n.): 1724, from Italian cantata, literally "that which is sung," past participle of cantare "to sing" (see chant (v.)).
canteen (n.): c. 1710, "store in a military camp," from French cantine "sutler's shop" (17c.), from Italian cantina "wine cellar, vault," which is perhaps another of the many meanings that were attached to Latin canto "corner;" in this case, perhaps "corner for storage." A Gaulish origin also has been proposed. Extended to "refreshment room at a military base, school, etc." from 1870. Meaning "small tin for water or liquor, carried by soldiers on the march, campers, etc." is from 1744, from a sense in French.
canter (v.): 1706, from a contraction of Canterbury gallop (1630s), "easy pace at which pilgrims ride to Canterbury" (q.v.). Related: Cantered; cantering.
canter (n.): 1755, from canter (v.).
Canterbury: Old English Cantware-buruh "fortified town of the Kentish people," from Cant-ware "the people of Kent" (see Kent). The Roman name was Duroverno, from Romano-British *duro- "walled town."

Pope Gregory the Great intended to make London, as the largest southern Anglo-Saxon city, the metropolitan see of southern England, but Christianity got a foothold first in the minor kingdom of Kent, whose heathen ruler Ethelbert had married a Frankish Christian princess. London was in the Kingdom of Essex and out of reach of the missionaries at first. Therefore, in part perhaps to flatter Ethelbert, his capital was made the cathedral city. Related: Canterburian.
canticle (n.): "short hymn," early 13c., from Latin canticulum "a little song," diminutive of canticum "song" (also a scene in Roman comedy enacted by one person and accompanied by music and dancing), from cantus (see chant (v.)).
cantilever (n.): 1660s, probably from cant (n.2) + lever, but earliest form (c. 1610) was cantlapper. First element also might be Spanish can "dog," architect's term for an end of timber jutting out of a wall, on which beams rested. Related: Cantilevered.
cantina (n.): "bar room, saloon," 1892, Texas and U.S. southwest dialect, from Spanish and Italian form of canteen.
cantle (n.): early 14c., "a part, a portion," also "a section cut out of anything" (mid-15c.), from Old North French cantel "corner, piece" (Old French chantel, Modern French chanteau), from Medieval Latin cantellus, diminutive of cantus "corner" (see cant (n.2)).
canto (n.): 1580s, from Italian canto "song," from Latin cantus "song" (see chant (v.)). As "a section of a long poem," used in Italian by Dante, in English first by Spenser.
canton (n.): 1530s, "corner, angle," from Middle French canton "piece, portion of a country" (13c.), from Italian (Lombard dialect) cantone "region," especially in the mountains, augmentative of Latin canto "section of a country," literally "corner" (see cant (n.2)). Originally in English a term in heraldry and flag descriptions; applied to the sovereign states of the Swiss republic from 1610s. Related: Cantoned.