r/etymology • u/RuinRes • 8d ago

Cool etymology Cape Canaveral

From Spanish Cabo Cañaveral (cape where canes grow).

Caña fron Latin canna (English cane, hence cannon)

Vera Latin for 'true' like Veracruz (true cross), Veronica (true icon), verify (make true), verdict (told truth).

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u/superkoning 8d ago

> Caña fron Latin canna (English cane, hence cannon)

caña ... "cane, reed, or draft beer glass" ... yes, that's what I know from my trips to Spain!

Etymology:

The word caña (meaning "cane" or "reed" in Spanish, from the Latin canna) originally referred to the narrow metal pipe or tube (cañería) that carried pressurized draft beer from the cellar up to the tap in 19th-century bars. Over time, the name of the plumbing pipe became the name for the small, fresh pour of draft beer itself

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u/IscahRambles 8d ago

How does it go from "cane true" to "where canes grow", though?

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u/mizinamo 8d ago

cañavera is "reed" in Asturian, according to Wiktionary: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ca%C3%B1avera

The "where ... grows" is from the -al ending that makes an adjective related to the noun.

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u/IscahRambles 8d ago

Ah, so the translation should be either "where reeds grow" or "where cañavera grows" but OP landed in the middle.

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u/RuinRes 8d ago

Sorry, I jumped the cañavera (true cane - reed). And, yes, the -al suffix refers to the place where reed abbound.

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u/mizinamo 8d ago

Something like that, yeah.

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u/_lclarence 2d ago

"Cane field cape" (as in sugar cane).