>> How about Greek KANNA and KANWN (W = omega; cf English "cane" and
>> "canon") from Hebrew QANEH, or at least from its Semitic cognates? ...
>
[Yitzhak:] The word qaneh and its cognates has only one /n/ in the word. ...
I know. But Greek loans from Semitic languages do not always preserve
single and double consonants, as is clear for example from Hebrew names
in LXX. An example that comes to mind immediately is Hebrew RIBQAH >
Greek REBEKKA. Anyway, the Greek word appears as KANH (h=eta) as well as
KANNA, and in the apparent derivative KANWN in which the second N is
probably a suffix, and so the doubling of the N is probably a change
within Greek. Also, this etymological link is not something speculative
and certainly not something which derives from cannabis lovers, but is
clearly stated in reputable dictionaries, e.g. American Heritage, see
http://www.answers.com/cane&r=67, cf. also the Online Etymology
Dictionary at
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=cane&searchmode=none, also
BDB s.v. QANEH. If you want to disprove this etymology, you will need to
find a convincing reason why the same thing was called QANEH in Hebrew
and KANH in Greek if there was no etymological link.
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