Canaan

Canaan

English

Alternative forms

• Chanaan
• Caanan

Etymology

Taken (at least as early as Wycliffe's Bible, 1382-1395, which has Chanaan) from Ecclesiastical Latin Chanaān,[1] from Ancient Greek Χαναάν (Khanaán), expanded from Χνᾶ (Khnâ), from Hebrew כְּנַעַן‎ (k'ná'an). The first vowel shifted from /aː/ to /eɪ/ in the Great Vowel Shift; at least as early as Milton (1660s), the word could already be pronounced with two syllables, though at least as late as the 1880s it could also be pronounced with three, /ˈkeɪ.nə.æn/.[2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkeɪnən/, /ˈkeɪneɪən/, /ˈkeɪniən/

Proper noun

Canaan

1. A historical region in the Middle East, roughly equivalent to Palestine.
2. A grandson of Noah.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Genesis 10:15-18:

     :

     And Canaan begat Sidon his first born, and Heth, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.

3. (rare) A male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.
4. The name of multiple places in North America named after the historic region, including:
   1. A town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States.
   2. A number of townships in the United States, listed under Canaan Township.

Derived terms

• Canaanite
• New Canaan

Translations

historic region

Afrikaans: Kanaän Akkadian: 𒆠𒈾𒄴𒈾 (ki-na-aḫ-na), 𒆠𒅔𒀀𒉌 (ki-na-a-ni), 𒆠𒈾𒈾 (ki-na-na), 𒆠𒈾𒀭𒈾 (ki-na-an-na), 𒆠𒈾𒄴𒉌 (ki-na-aḫ-ni), 𒆠𒈾𒀪𒉌 (ki-na-a'-ni), 𒆠𒈾𒀪𒈾 (ki-na-a'-na), 𒆠𒈾𒄴𒄭 (ki-na-aḫ-ḫi), 𒆠𒈾𒀪𒈾𒈾 (ki-na-a'-na-na), 𒆠𒈾𒄿 (ki-na-i), 𒆠𒈾𒄭 (ki-na-ḫi) Amharic: ከነዓን (känäʿan) Arabic: كَنْعَان‎ (ar) (kanʿān) Aramaic: Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܟܢܥܢ‎ Armenian: Քանան (Kʿanan) Asturian: Canaán Azerbaijani: Kənan Basque: Kanaan Belarusian: Ханаа́н m (Xanaán) Bengali: কেনান (kenan) Bulgarian: Ханаа́н m (Hanaán) Catalan: Canaan m Chechen: Канӏан (Kanˀan) Chinese: Cantonese: 迦南 (gaa1 naam4) Hakka: 迦南 (Kâ-nàm) Mandarin: 迦南 (zh) (Jiānán) Min Dong: 迦南 (Giă-nàng) Min Nan: 迦南 (Ka-lâm) Czech: Kanaán (cs) Danish: Kanan Dutch: Kanaän (nl) Esperanto: Kanaano Estonian: Kaanan Finnish: Kanaan French: Canaan (fr) Galician: Canaán Georgian: ქანაანი (kanaani) German: Kanaan (de) m Greek: Χαναάν (el) f (Chanaán) Ancient: Χαναάν f (Khanaán) Hebrew: כְּנַעַן‎ m (k'ná'an) Hungarian: Kánaán (hu) Icelandic: Kanan Italian: Cananea Japanese: カナアン (Kana-an), カナン (Kanan) Korean: 가나안 (ganaan) Lao: ການາອານ (kā nā ʼān) Latin: Chanaān f (indeclinable) Latvian: Kanaāna Lithuanian: Kanaanas Malagasy: Kanaana Malay: Kanaan Maore Comorian: Kanani Mongolian: Канаан (Kanaan) Navajo: Kéínan bikéyah Old Armenian: երկիր Քանանու (erkir Kʿananu) Persian: کنعان‎ (fa) (kan'ân) Polish: Kanaan (pl) m Portuguese: Canaã (pt) Punjabi: ਕਨਾਨ (kanān) Russian: Ханаа́н (ru) m (Xanaán) Rusyn: Канаан (Kanaan) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: Ка̀наан m Roman: Kànaan (sh) m Slovak: Kanaán Slovene: Kanaan Spanish: Canaán Swahili: Kanaani Swedish: Kanaan Tamil: கானான் (ta) (kāṉāṉ) Thai: คานาอัน (kaa-naa-an) Turkish: Kenan (tr) Ukrainian: Ханаан m (Xanaan) Vietnamese: Ca-na-an Volapük: Kanaän (vo) West Frisian: Kanaän Yiddish: כּנען‎ m (knaan) Zazaki: Kenan

grandson of Noah

Armenian: Քանան (Kʿanan) Bengali: কেনান (kenan) Chinese: Cantonese: 迦南 (gaa1 naam4) Mandarin: 迦南 (zh) (Jiānán) Czech: Kenaan m, Kanán m Hebrew: כְּנַעַן‎ m (k'ná'an) Malay: Kanaan Navajo: Kéínan Old Armenian: Քանան (Kʿanan) Portuguese: Canaã (pt) Russian: Ханаан (ru) m (Xanaan) Yiddish: כּנען‎ m (knaan)

References

1. “Canaan”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022., which (incorrectly) dates the borrowing to the early 1600s
2. Joseph Thomas, Thomas Baldwin, A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer, Or, Geographical Dictionary (1880), page 361: "Canaan, kà´nạn or kà´nạ-an, a name applied in Scripture to the Promised Land of the Israelites." (The addition of 1868, page 349, has "CANAAN, ká´nạn or ká´nạ-an, a name applied in Scripture to the 'Promised Land'".) This corresponds to /ˈkeɪ.nən/, /ˈkeɪ.nə.æn/. George Walter Baynham, Baynham's Elocution, select readings (1883), page 11, says "Pronounce the vowel sound as in fat: — Canaan, banian, tapestry, […] ".
3. John Walker, A Key to the Classical Pronunciation of Greek, Latin, and Scripture (1807), page 232 (re the pronunciation with three syllables existing and beign accented on the antepenult) and page 174 (re Milton using it with two syllables).

Anagrams

• Caanan