Trade, money & letters

canon

A canon was first a straight rod for measuring: Greek kanṓn, related to kánna 'reed', probably from Semitic qanē 'reed'. The measuring stick became a rule and the rule became the list of accepted books; through Syriac the word returned to Arabic as qānūn, 'law', and travelled on to Ottoman Turkey, Persia, India, East Africa and Malacca.

Weakest linkPossible

The road to English

From Ancient Greek to Syriac, Arabic

From Arabic to Ottoman Turkish, Turkish

From Arabic to Persian, Hindi

From Arabic to Swahili

From Arabic to Malay

From Ancient Greek to Old Church Slavonic, Russian

From Ancient Greek to Modern Greek

From Late Latin to Old French, French

3000 BCEProto-Semitic

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