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CAN (1),
I am able. (E.) A. The A.S. cunnan,
to know, to know how to do, to be able, forms its present tense
thus: ic can (or cann), þu canst (or
const), he can (or cann); plural, for all persons,
cunnon. The Mœso-Goth. kunnan, to know, forms its present tense thus:
ik kann, thu
kant, is kann; pl. weis kunnum, jus kunnuth, eis kunnun.
B. The verb is one of those which (like the Gk. οἶδα, I know) use as
a present tense what is really an old preterite form, from which
again a second weak preterite is formed. The same
peculiarity is common to all the cognate Teutonic verbs, viz. Du. kunnen, to be able; Icel.
kunna, to know, to be able; Swed. kunna,
to know, to be able; Dan. kunde, to know, to be able; O.H.G. chunnan,
M.H.G. kunnen, G. können, to be able.
C. The word is not
the same as the word ken, to know, though from the same source
ultimately. The verb to ken is not English (which
supplies its place by the related form to know) but Scandinavian;
cf. Icel. kenna, to know, Swed. känna, Dan. kiende, Du.
kennen, G.
kennen; all of which are weak verbs; whereas can was once
strong. See Ken.
D. The past tense is Could. Here the
l is inserted in modern English by sheer
blundering, to make it like would and should, in which the
l is
radical. The M.E. form is coudè, a dissyllable; the A.S.
form is cúðe. The long ú
is due to loss of n; cúðe stands for cunðe (pronounced
koonthè, with oo like oo in tooth, and
th as in breathe). The loss of the n has obscured the
relation to can. The n reappears in Gothic, where the
past tense is kuntha; cf. Du. konde, I could; Icel. kunna
(for kunda, by assimilation); Swed. and Dan. kunde,
O.H.G. kunda, G. könnte. Whence it appears
that the English alone has lost the n. E. The past participle is
Couth. This is only preserved,
in mod. Eng., in the form uncouth, of which the original sense was
'unknown.' The A.S. form is cúð, standing for
cunð, the
n being preserved in the Goth. kunths, known. See
Uncouth.
F. The root of this verb is the same as that of
E. ken (Icel. kenna) and of E. know, Lat. noscere (for
gnoscere),
and Gk. γιγνώσκειν, which are extended forms of it. The
Aryan form of the root is GAN or GA; Fick, i. 67. See Know, and
Ken.
CAN (2),
a drinking-vessel. (E.) M.E. canne.
'There weren sett sixe stonun cannes;' Wyclif, John, ii. 6.—A.S.
canna, canne, as a gloss to Lat. crater; Ælf. Gloss.
ed. Somner, p. 60. + Du. kan, a pot, mug. + Icel. kanna, a can,
tankard, mug; also, a measure. + Swed. kanna, a tankard; a measure
of about 3 quarts. + Dan. kande, a can, tankard, mug. + O.H.G.
channá, M.H.G. and G. kanne, a can, tankard, mug, jug,
pot. ¶ It thus appears like a true Teutonic
word. Some think that it was borrowed from Lat. canna,
Gk. κάννε, a reed; whence the notion of measuring. If
so, it must have been borrowed at a very early period.
The Low Lat. forms cana, canna, a vessel or measure for liquids, do
not really help us much towards deciding this question.
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