LL-L "Etymology" 2007.10.13 (03) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  13 October 2007 - Volume 03
Song Contest: lowlands-l.net/contest/ (- 31 Dec. 2007)
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From: Mark Dreyer <mrdreyer at lantic.net>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2007.10.09 (04) [E]

Dear Ron & All:

Subject: L-Lowlands "Etymology"

Ron, you report:
Apparently, the word goes back, probably via Dutch, to Spanish
canast(r)o(thus probably an American connection) which goes back to
Greek κάναστρων
(kánastrôn) 'basket woven from reeds' (cf. Modern Greek κανίστρο (kanístro)
'basket' > "cannister") going back to Greek κάννα (kánna) 'cane'.  This is
as much as I can find out.

Is it pertinant to report of the English use of the word  'canister'?
I quote from Chambers': "...A box or case for holding tea, shot etc." If
this tobacco was packed in a cell of bamboo, it would look pretty well
exactly like an item of  pre-Napoleonic naval ordnance, case shot. A
comparatively fragile cylinder of the bore of the gun is stuffed with
grape-shot or something coarser, & passed down the barrel as one. It
was also mob-control munitions in those days, & riotious assemblies in
Europe got to know the 'smell of grape-shot' well. I can imagine what a
student would make of that.

Yrs,
Mark

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Interesting, Mark!

According to the Herkunftsduden, German Kanister is a separate loan,
apparently from Italian canestro, though it goes back to the same ultimate
source ('wicker basket').

The modern meaning 'container for liquids' appears to have been introduced
to the word from 19th-century English canister. In English, this word only
goes back to the late 17th century and never had the meaning 'basket'.
However, it may well have begun as a measure, for early on we find it used
as a tea measure (75-100 lbs. weight) and, early in the 19th century, as the
"canisterful" or "canister-shot" you mentioned. It does appear in literature
in the sense of 'bread- or flower-basket', but this is considered a
scholarly or literary imitation of the Roman situation where it was a basket
for bread, flowers and fruit.

I have a feeling that this Latin canistrum was a measure also, and that this
idea of "(container) measure" served as a semantic thread in its life as a
loanword while the material from which it was originally made was treated as
secondary or irrelevant. Maybe it's a bit like 'ton' and 'bushel'.

What do you think?

English also has canaster 'tobacco basket' (!) from Spanish canasta <
canastra from the same source, and it, too, goes back to the same source.
Furthermore, it, too, came to be used to denote a certain type of tobacco --
again starting with a measure, I believe.

And then there's the Uruguayan, now internationalized, Rummy- and
Pinochle-derived game Canasta in which a set of seven cards is a "basket" or
"canasta," again from the same source via Spanish canasta < canastra.

How 'bout that, huh?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

P.S.: Please say "Hi!" to Ruth for me!
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