WikiWord

English

Canaan

/ˈkeɪnən/ · name

Meaning

  1. A town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States.
  2. A town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States.
  3. A grandson of Noah.
  4. The name of multiple places in North America named after the historic region, including:
  5. A number of townships in the United States, listed under Canaan Township.
  6. A historic region of the Middle East, roughly equivalent to Palestine/Israel.
  7. A male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.

Etymology / origin

Taken (at least as early as Wycliffe's Bible, 1382-1395, which has Chanaan) from Ecclesiastical Latin Chanaān, 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/.

Sources

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