Canaan
/ˈkeɪnən/noun
An ancient region of the Levant, especially the land associated in the Bible with the Israelites before the kingdom of Israel.
Did you know?The name Canaan is ancient and pre-Hebrew, and scholars have long debated whether it may be linked to a Semitic word for 'lowland' or to a term for 'purple-dyed merchant' people, showing how place names can preserve lost worlds.
Etymological Timeline
Bronze Age
Semitic
*knʿn
“An ancient regional name in the Levant, likely referring to the land or its inhabitants”
Late Bronze / Early Iron Age
Ugaritic
knʿn
“A place or region in the Levant”
1st millennium BCE
Hebrew
כְּנַעַן (Kəna‘an)
“Canaan, the land and its peoples”
Ancient Greek
Greek
Χαναάν (Khanaan)
“Canaan”
Latin
Latin
Canaan
“Canaan”
Middle English
English
Canaan
“The biblical land of Canaan”
Modern English
English
Canaan
“The historical and biblical region in the Levant”
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