Where does “cannon” come from?
Cannon comes from Old French canon, from Italian cannone, a noun formed with the Italian augmentative suffix -one added to Italian canna, from Latin canna, from Ancient Greek κάννα, all meaning a tube or reed.
cannon (English): A complete assembly, consisting of an artillery...
Definitions
- A complete assembly, consisting of an artillery...
Ancestry of “cannon”, step by step
cannon traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via English canon
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | canon | A generally accepted principle; a rule; A group... |
| 2 | Middle English | canoun | Ecclesiastical regulations; canon law |
| 3 | Old French | canon | tube; cannon |
| 4 | Italian | cannone | cannon; ace; large tube or pipe |
| 5 | Italian | canna | cane; barrel; rod |
| 6 | Latin | canna | A reed, cane; Anything made of reed or cane;... |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | κάννα | giant reed; reed mat |
| 8 | Akkadian | 𒄀 | reed; a certain unit of length |
| 9 | Sumerian | 𒄀 | reed; a certain unit of length |
via French canon
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | canon | cannon, gun; barrel; cannon for a horse |
| 2 | French | -on | Forming diminutives of things, including some... |
| 3 | Ancient Greek | -ός | Forms agentive or patientive adjectives and nouns from the o-grade of a verbal root |
| 4 | Proto-Hellenic | *-os | — |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -ós | Creates agent nouns from verb stems, denoting... |