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Canaan

//ˈkeɪnən// name

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A historic region of the Middle East, roughly equivalent to Palestine/Israel.
  2. 2
    A grandson of Noah.

    "And Canaan begat Sidon his first born, and Heth, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad."

  3. 3
    A male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin. rare
  4. 4
    The name of multiple places in North America named after the historic region, including:; A town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States.
  5. 5
    The name of multiple places in North America named after the historic region, including:; A number of townships in the United States, listed under Canaan Township.

Etymology

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/.

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