Runthrough
So I was reading...it doesn't much matter what, but the word "cannula" was in the text. (Actually, it was misspelled "canula", which is the only reason I noticed it.) And my first impression was that it was almost certainly related to "canal", which it is, and then some.
First, in case you didn't know, a cannula is a flexible tube used in medicine to transport some fluid--to move liquids out of the body or to administer oxygen. Its source is Latin "canna", reed; the suffix "-ula" is a diminutive, the source of our "-ule" as in "ampoule", "amphora" plus "-ule"--a tiny container for water. So a cannula, obviously enough, is a small hollow pipe of some sort. All very clear and aboveboard.
And, as you can see, a channel is something that fluids run through, and so is a canal (which is also French for "channel", both the kind that carries water and the kind that carries broadcast signals), and naturally enough they have the same origin. And then it starts to spread out; "canister", another sort of container, is also an offspring of "canna". "Cane" obviously has the same source, since it's a sort of reed. An unexpected relative is "canyon", a channel, now empty, cut into the face of the earth by running water. So, too, is "cannon"--another sort of tube. "Cannoli" is probably too obvious to mention; again, tubes.
The one word missing from the list, one I would have expected to be there, is "can". Doesn't it seem as if it should be, at the very least, a shortened form of "canister"? According to the OED, not so: "Latin canna, 'reed, pipe' does not suit the sense". Well, if they say so.
Oh, and one last thing: Although "canal" is French for "channel", they don't call the English Channel "Le Canal Anglais", or even "Le Canal Français"; they call it "La Manche", which means "the sleeve", due to its shape. ("Manche" is derived from "main", the French word for "hand"; it still exists in English in such words as "maintain", literally "to hold in the hand".) "Manche" is not much used in English--though it used to be--but it does have one close relative which is now a full-fledged English word: the sleeve-shaped pasta called manicotti.
First, in case you didn't know, a cannula is a flexible tube used in medicine to transport some fluid--to move liquids out of the body or to administer oxygen. Its source is Latin "canna", reed; the suffix "-ula" is a diminutive, the source of our "-ule" as in "ampoule", "amphora" plus "-ule"--a tiny container for water. So a cannula, obviously enough, is a small hollow pipe of some sort. All very clear and aboveboard.
And, as you can see, a channel is something that fluids run through, and so is a canal (which is also French for "channel", both the kind that carries water and the kind that carries broadcast signals), and naturally enough they have the same origin. And then it starts to spread out; "canister", another sort of container, is also an offspring of "canna". "Cane" obviously has the same source, since it's a sort of reed. An unexpected relative is "canyon", a channel, now empty, cut into the face of the earth by running water. So, too, is "cannon"--another sort of tube. "Cannoli" is probably too obvious to mention; again, tubes.
The one word missing from the list, one I would have expected to be there, is "can". Doesn't it seem as if it should be, at the very least, a shortened form of "canister"? According to the OED, not so: "Latin canna, 'reed, pipe' does not suit the sense". Well, if they say so.
Oh, and one last thing: Although "canal" is French for "channel", they don't call the English Channel "Le Canal Anglais", or even "Le Canal Français"; they call it "La Manche", which means "the sleeve", due to its shape. ("Manche" is derived from "main", the French word for "hand"; it still exists in English in such words as "maintain", literally "to hold in the hand".) "Manche" is not much used in English--though it used to be--but it does have one close relative which is now a full-fledged English word: the sleeve-shaped pasta called manicotti.
posted by pyramus | 8:15 PM
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