Canistrum, Canister, or Caneum (κάνιστρον, from κάνη, a reed). A wide shallow basket for carrying the instruments of sacrifice and offerings for the gods. It was generally carried on the head by young girls, who were called Canephoræ (κανηφόραι, i. e. basket-bearers), q.v.
Canon (κανὼν, from κάνη, i. e. anything straight like a reed). A fixed rule or standard which is supposed to have served, in antiquity, as a basis or model in forming statues, the various members of which bore a definite proportion one to the other. The Greeks had some such canon. The δορυφόρος (spearman) of Polycletus was, it is said, looked upon as affording a standard for the proportions of the human body. The Egyptians are also supposed to have had a canon, in which the middle finger formed the unit of measurement.
Canopea or Canopic Vases. An Egyptian vase, made of clay, and so named from its being manufactured at Canopus, a town of Lower Egypt, the present Aboukir. The same name was given to funereal urns made in the shape of the god Canopus, who is described by Russin as pedibus exiguis, attracto collo, ventre tumido in modum hydriæ, cum dorso æqualiter tereti (i. e. having small feet, a short neck, a belly as round and swelling as a water-jar, and a back to match). Canopean vases were made of earthenware, alabaster, and limestone. They were placed at the four corners of tombs or sarcophagi containing mummies. In them were deposited the viscera of the dead, which were placed under the protection of the four genii, symbolized each by the head of some animal which served at the same time for the lid of the canopea.
Cant, Arch. (1) To truncate. (2) To turn anything over on its angle.
Cantabrarii, Med. Lat. Standard-bearers: from Cantabrum, a kind of standard used by the Roman emperors. (Consult Meyrick.)
Canted Column, Arch. A column polygonal in section.
Cantellus, Med. Lat. (Fr. chanteau and cantel; Lat. quantillus). (1) A cut with a weapon, or the portion cut away. (2) Heraldic for the fourth part of a shield, since called a canton. (3) The hind part of a saddle.
Canteriolus (dimin. of canterius, a prop). A painter’s easel. The term, which is of doubtful Latinity, corresponds to the Greek ὀκρίβας.
Canterius, R. This term has numerous meanings; it serves to denote a gelding, a prop, the rafters forming part of the wood-work of a roof, and a surgical contrivance, of which the form is unknown, but which was used for suspending horses whose legs chanced to be broken, in such a way as to allow the bone to set.
