The language of the ancient inhabitants of the country west of the Jordan, closely allied to Hebrew. As the Canaanites were descended from Ham, but the Hebrews from Shem, the similarity of their languages has led to much discussion. Many of the new critics, Ewald, Winer, Bunsen, Renan, have argued that both peoples must have had a common origin. But since the publication of Knobel’s work on the ethnology of Genesis, this view has been generally abandoned, and critics hold with Gesenius and J. G. Müller that the Hebrews adopted the language of Canaan. In Gen. xxxi., 47, Laban uses an Aramaic dialect, while Jacob uses Hebrew. R. P. S.
Canaanitic.
Semitic: a name for the central branch, comprising Hebrew, Punic Phœnician, and Samaritan.
Canamerim.
American: dialect of the R. Purus. See “Trans. R. Geog. Socy.,” London, 1870.
Canarese.
A dialect spoken in the Carnatic, the capital of which is Mysore, a portion of the S. peninsula of British India, belonging to the Presidency of Madras; it is allied to Tamil and Cingalese, with a cursive alphabet very similar to Telinga, called also Karnatika and Kannada. Grammar by Hodson, Bangalore, 1864; Dicty. by Reeve (E. & C.), Madras, 1832; (C. & E.) Bangalore, 1858.
Canary, see [Guanche].
Canaway.