# canis
## Latin
### Etymology 1

From earlier canēs. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ, *ḱun- (“dog”), from earlier *ḱwón-s, whence also Ancient Greek κύων (kúōn), Sanskrit श्वन् (śván), though the expected outcome was formally much altered.
The -a- gained a number of ad hoc explanations, such as a shift of *-wo- to *-wa- in open syllables, or of *-n̥- to -an- before vowels. The initial unrounded c- must have been levelled early into the rest of the inflection from the expected nominative outcome *cō, as *ḱw- would have regularly delabialised before a rounded vowel.

#### Alternative forms

* canēs (pre-Classical)

#### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈka.nis/, [ˈkänɪs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈka.nis/, [ˈkäːnis]

#### Noun

canis m or f (genitive canis); third declension
* a dog, a hound (animal)
** Petronius
    Cave canem.Beware of the dog.
* a ‘dog’ constellation or ‘dog’ star: either Canis Major, its brightest star Sirius; or Canis Minor, its brightest star Procyon
** 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 4.939–940:‘est Canis, Īcarium dīcunt, quō sīdere mōtō tosta sitit tellūs, praecipiturque seges’‘‘There is a Dog – they say [of?] Icarius – a star (or constellation), [and] where it has moved, the earth thirsts, [it] having been scorched, and the crop is seized beforehand.’’ (Maera (hound) found the body of Icarius (Athenian) and became the constellation Canis Minor with the bright ‘‘dog’’ star Procyon; it, along with Canis Major, the other celestial dog with its brighter ‘‘dog’’ star Sirius, were believed to cause late summer heat and drought.)
* a dog, a hound, a bounder, a blackguard, a cad, a heel (foul person)
* a dog, a creature (human parasite or follower who depends on someone with great power and resources and bends to their will)
* a tiger, a dragon, a savage (a fierce or enraged person)
* (dice games) the lowest, worst throw at the dice, an ace
** 121 C.E., Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum, volume Aug.71:Talis enim iactatis, ut quisque canem aut senionem miserat, in singulos talos singulos denarios in medium conferebat, quos tollebat uniuersos, qui Venerem ieceratWhen the tali (an oblong dice) would be thrown, those who had gotten an ace or a six had to place a denarius in the middle of the table for each dice thrown, the one that would achieve in getting a Venus (the best throw) won it all.
    Synonym: canicula
    Antonym: Venus
    Coordinate terms: bīniō, terniō, quaterniō, quīniō, sēniō

##### Declension

Third-declension noun.

##### Synonyms

* (dog): lātrātor (barker)

##### Related terms

* canārius
* canātim
* canīcula
* canīculāris
* canīculus
* caniformis
* canīnus

##### Descendants

* Aragonese: can
* Balkan Romance:
** Aromanian: cãni, cãne, cheni
** Istro-Romanian: căre
** Megleno-Romanian: cǫini
** Romanian: câine, câne
* Asturian: can
* Corsican: cane
* Dalmatian: cun, cuon
* Franco-Provençal: chin
* Old French: chien, kien
** Middle French: chien
*** French: chien
** Angevin: chin
** Bourguignon: chein
** Champenois: chin
** Franc-Comtois: tchïn
** Norman: quien
** Picard: tchien, kien, quien
** Walloon: tchén
* Istriot: can
* Rhaeto-Romance:
** Friulian: cjan, čhan
** Ladin: cian
** Romansch: chaun, tgaun, chan
* North Italian:
** Gallo-Italic:
*** Ligurian: can
*** Old Piedmontese: cjeun
**** Piedmontese: can
*** Lombard: cjeun, cjaun
**** Lombard: can
*** Romagnol: cân, chên (Cattolica), chën (Rimini)
** Venetan: can
* Italian: cane
* Old Occitan: can
** Catalan: ca
** Occitan: can
* Old Galician-Portuguese: can
** Galician: can
** Portuguese: cão
* Sardinian:
    Campidanese: cani
    Logudorese: cane
* Sicilian: cani
* Spanish: can

#### Notes

* ↑ Compare possible parallel *-o- > -a- shifts in lacus, mare, manus, lanius, etc. This assumes relevelling from the stem of the accusative canem, which would have regularly reflected *ḱwónm̥.
* ↑ Now mostly rejected, as this assumes a relevelling on a genitive stem *ḱwn̥-, which is actually largely attested as *ḱun- in all the word's cognates.

#### References

* 1 2 3 Walde, Alois, Hofmann, Johann Baptist (1938) “canis”, in Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), 3rd edition, volume I, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, pages 152–153
* 1 2 Ernout, Alfred, Meillet, Antoine (1985) “canēs, canis, -is”, in Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine: histoire des mots‎ (in French), 4th edition, with additions and corrections of Jacques André, Paris: Klincksieck, published 2001, page 92
* ↑ Pokorny, Julius (1959) “k̑u̯on-, k̑un-”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, pages 632–633
* 1 2 Sihler, Andrew L. (1995) New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, § 100c, page 98
* 1 2 De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “canēs, -is”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 87

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈkaː.niːs/, [ˈkäːniːs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈka.nis/, [ˈkäːnis]

#### Adjective

cānīs
* dative/ablative masculine/feminine/neuter plural of cānus

### Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈka.nis/, [ˈkänɪs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈka.nis/, [ˈkäːnis]

#### Verb

canis
* second-person singular present active indicative of canō

### Further reading

* “canis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “canis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* "canis", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* canis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. (ambiguous) to keep horses, dogs: alere equos, canes
* “canis”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

### Anagrams

* nāscī (“to be born”)

## Portuguese
### Pronunciation

* Rhymes: -is

### Noun

canis m
* plural of canil

## Spanish
### Noun

canis m pl
* plural of cani