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WIKTIONARY VIA KAIKKI / WIKTEXTRACT
Imported dictionary evidence
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35,981 English word records · 45,491 etymology sections in this online subset
PARTIAL ENGLISH COVERAGE · FULL CORPUS REMAINS LOCAL5 source sections across 2 headwords matching “Cant”. These are separate from the reviewed results below.
CantEnglish (en) · Unnumbered etymologySource text
As a German surname, variant of Kant.
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗cantEnglish (en) · Etymology 1Source text
From Latin cantō, probably via Old Northern French canter (“sing, tell”). Doublet of chant.
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗cantEnglish (en) · Etymology 2Source text
From Middle English cant (“edge, brink”), from Middle Dutch cant (“point, side, edge”) (Modern Dutch kant (“side, edge”)), ultimately of Celtic or Latin origin. Related to Medieval Latin cantus (“corner, side”), from Latin canthus.
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗cantEnglish (en) · Etymology 3Source text
Unknown, but compare Provençal cantel (“corner, piece”) or Old Northern French cantel (“piece broken off”). The verb is attested from the 15th century, and the noun from the 16th. See cantle, from which cant is possibly back-formed as if it contained the suffix -le.
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗cantEnglish (en) · Etymology 4Source text
From Middle English cant, kaunt, presumably from Middle Low German *kant, perhaps a slang word related to kant (“edge, rim”), from Medieval Latin canthus. Attested from the 13th or 14th century.
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗INDEPENDENT SOURCE LIBRARY
More sources for this spelling
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Mayhew–Skeat (1888)
1888; pinned HTML transcription updated October 28, 2024MODERN ENTRY POINTS
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No reviewed record in this collection contains “cant.” Absence describes this graph, not all of linguistic scholarship.
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SCHOLARLY DISPUTES / 1
Was Portuguese chá borrowed specifically from Cantonese or from Mandarin?
WALS gives a Cantonese cha route through Macao; Infopédia labels the source Mandarin chá. The shared cha-type Chinese family is secure, but the immediate variety label is not unanimous.
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No reviewed record in this collection contains “cant.” Absence describes this graph, not all of linguistic scholarship.
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