Where does “canny” come from?
Canny comes from Middle English -y, Middle French -ie, Latin -ia, Latin -ivus, Latin -ia, and Proto-Indo-European -kos.
canny (English): Careful, prudent, cautious; Knowing, shrewd,...
Definitions
- Careful, prudent, cautious; Knowing, shrewd,...
Ancestry of “canny”, step by step
canny traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via English uncanny
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | uncanny | Strange, and mysteriously unsettling (as if supernatural); weird |
| 2 | English | un- | not; absent; lacking; not; negative; contrary to... |
| 3 | Middle English | un- | — |
| 4 | Old English | un- | negation or absence of: un-, non-; bad; forms... |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | un- | not, un- |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | un- | not, un- |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | n̥- | not, un- |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ne | not |
via English can
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | can | To know how to; to be able to; May; to be... |
| 2 | Spanish | can | dog, hound |
| 3 | Latin | Canis | a dog, a hound animal |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | δρόμος | race, running; racetrack; course, path |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | -ός | Forms agentive or patientive adjectives and nouns from the o-grade of a verbal root |
| 6 | Proto-Hellenic | *-os | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -ós | Creates agent nouns from verb stems, denoting... |
via Scots can
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scots | can | can; be able to |
| 2 | Middle English | can | Alternative form of canne |
| 3 | Middle English | cunnen | To know about; To be able to; to have the... |
| 4 | Old English | cunnan | to know, to be familiar with; can, to know how |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | kunnan | to recognise; to know how, to be able |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | kunnaną | to know, to be familiar with, to recognise; to... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵneh₃- | to know |