Trade, money & letters

cane

The Semitic word for reed, Akkadian qanû (Hebrew qāneh), seems to have reached Greek as kánna. Through Latin canna it gave English cane, and also canal and channel; through Italian it gave the cannon, through Mexican Spanish the canyon, and through Portuguese Brazil's sugar cane, cana.

Weakest linkPossible

The road to English

From Old French to French

From Latin to Spanish

From Spanish to Mexican Spanish, American English

From Latin to Italian, Italian, Middle French, Middle English

From Latin to Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese

3000 BCEProto-Semitic

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.