canis

canis

See also: canís and Canis

Latin

canis (a dog)

Etymology 1

Older canēs, remodelled with generalization of the accusative form's vowel, from Proto-Italic *kō (acc. *kwanem, gen. *kunos)[1], from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ. Cognates include Ancient Greek κῠ́ων (kúōn) and English hound[2].

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.nis/, [ˈkänɪs̠]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.nis/, [ˈkäːnis]

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

Noun

canis m or f (genitive canis); third declension

1. a dog, a hound (animal)
   • Petronius

     Cave canem.

     Beware of the dog.

2. a ‘dog’ constellation or ‘dog’ star: either Canis Major, its brightest star Sirius; or Canis Minor, its brightest star Procyon
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 4.939-940:

     ‘est Canis, Īcarium dīcunt, quō sīdere mōtō
     tosta sitit tellūs, praecipiturque seges’

     ‘‘There is a Dog – they say [of?] Icarius – a star (or constellation), [and] where it has moved, the earth thirsts, [it] having been scorched, and the crop is seized beforehand.’’
     (Maera (hound) found the body of Icarius (Athenian) and became the constellation Canis Minor with the bright ‘‘dog’’ star Procyon; it, along with Canis Major, the other celestial dog with its brighter ‘‘dog’’ star Sirius, were believed to cause late summer heat and drought.)

3. a dog, a hound, a bounder, a blackguard, a cad, a heel (foul person)
4. a dog, a creature (human parasite or follower who depends on someone with great power and resources and bends to their will)
5. a tiger, a dragon, a savage (a fierce or enraged person)

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	canis	canēs
Genitive	canis	canum
Dative	canī	canibus
Accusative	canem	canēs
Ablative	cane	canibus
Vocative	canis	canēs

Related terms

• canārius
• canātim
• canīcula
• canīculāris
• canīculus
• caniformis
• canīnus

 

Descendants

Descendants

• Aragonese: can
• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: cãni, cãne, cheni
  • Istro-Romanian: căre
  • Megleno-Romanian: cǫini
  • Romanian: câine, câne
• Asturian: can
• Corsican: cane
• Dalmatian: cun, cuon
• Franco-Provençal: chin
• Old French: chien, kien
  • French: chien
  • Angevin: chin
  • Bourguignon: chein
  • Norman: quien
  • Picard: kien, tchien, (Amiens)
  • Tourangeau: chian
  • Walloon: tchén
• Friulian: cjan, čhan
• Istriot: can
• Gallo-Italic:
  • Ligurian: can
  • Lombard: can
  • Romagnol: cân, chên (Cattolica), chën (Rimini)
  • Venetian: can
• Italian: cane
• Ladin: cian
• Old Occitan: can
  • Catalan: ca
  • Occitan: can
• Old Portuguese: can
  • Galician: can
  • Portuguese: cão
• Romansch: chaun, tgaun, chan
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: cani

  Logudorese: cane

• Sicilian: cani
• Spanish: can

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkaː.niːs/, [ˈkäːniːs̠]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.nis/, [ˈkäːnis]

Adjective

cānīs

1. dative/ablative masculine/feminine/neuter plural of cānus

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.nis/, [ˈkänɪs̠]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.nis/, [ˈkäːnis]

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

Verb

canis

1. second-person singular present active indicative of canō

Further reading

• “canis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “canis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• canis in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• canis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) to keep horses, dogs: alere equos, canes
    
• “canis”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

References

1. De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 87
2. Walde, Alois; Hofmann, Johann Baptist (1938), “canis”, in Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 1, 3rd edition, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, pages 152-153

Anagrams

• nāscī (“to be born”)

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Portuguese

Noun

canis m

1. plural of canil

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Spanish

Noun

canis m pl

1. plural of cani