Word Origin & History
canelate 14c., from O.Fr. cane "reed, cane, spear" (13c., Mod.Fr. canne), from L. canna "reed, cane," from Gk. kanna, perhaps from Assyrian qanu "tube, reed" (cf. Hebrew qaneh, Arabic qanah "reed"), from Sumerian gin "reed." But Tucker finds this borrowing "needless" and proposes a native IE formation from
EXPANDa root meaning "to bind, bend." Sense of "walking stick" in English is 1580s; verb meaning "to beat with a walking stick" is from 1660s. Related: Caned; caning.
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