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CANTON, a
small division of a country. (F.,—Low Lat.)
Sir T. Browne uses cantons for 'corners;' Religio Medici, pt.
i. s. 15. In Heraldry, a canton is a small
division in the corner of a shield; so used in Ben Jonson, Staple of
News, A. iv (Piedmantle). And see Cotgrave.—F. canton,
'a corner or crosseway, in a street; also, a canton, a
hundred;' Cot. [Cf. Ital. cantone, a canton,
district; also, a corner-stone; Span. canton, a corner, part
of an escutcheon, canton.]—Low Lat. cantonum, a region,
province.—Low Lat. canto (1), a squared stone; also
(2), a region, province; whence cantonum. B.
It is not at all certain that these two senses of Low Lat. canto
are connected. The sense 'squared stone' evidently
referes to G. kante, Du. kant, an edge; but the sense
of 'region' is not necessarily connected with this, and Brachet
notes the etymology of canton as 'unknown.' It is
hardly fair to play upon the various senses of E. border, or
to try and connect the Teutonic kant, a corner, with W. cant,
a rim of a circle, Lat. canthus, the tire round a wheel, Gk.
κανθός, the corner of the eye, the felloe of a wheel.
The Teutonic k is not a Celto-Italic c, nor is 'a corner' quite the
same idea as 'rim.' It seems best to connect our own
word canton in the sense of 'corner' with the Teutonic forms, and
leave the other sense unaccounted for. Der. canton,
verb; canton-al, canton-ment. Cf. se
cantonner, 'to
sever themselves from the rest of their fellowes;' Cotgrave. [†]
ADDENDA
The problem of the
relationship (if any) of Du. kant, an edge, to Lat. canthus,
the tire round a wheel, is not easy. I have said, above,
that they cannot be connected; but this was founded on the
supposition that Du. kant was a truly Teutonic word. I
would now adopt the solution given by Weigand, in his G. Etym. Dict.
s.v. Kante, that the G. kante was merely borrowed
from Dutch or Low German (see note on Cant
(2) addenda); whilst the Du. word, in its turn, was likewise
unoriginal, being borrowed from O.F. cant, edge, still
preserved in the mod. F. phrase mettre de champ, poser de champ,
to lay (bricks) edgewise; see champ (2) in Littré.
These relationships once established, the word is seen to be of
Romance origin; from Lat. canthus, the tire of a wheel, borrowed
from Gk.
κάνθος, the corner of the eye, the felloe of a
wheel. Quintilian, i. 5. 88, considers it as barbarian,
meaning African or Spanish, but there is nothing to shew for its
being not Gk. β. If this be the right account, the
original is Gk.
κάνθος, whence were borrwed Lat.
canthus, and
(probably) W. cant, rim. From Lat. canthus were derived
O.F. cant, F. cant-on, Ital. cant-o, &c.
We may mark
cant (2) as (Du.,—F.,—Gk.); cant-een as (F.,—Ital.,—L.,—Gk.);
cant-o as (Ital.,—L.,—Gk.); cant-on as (F.,—Low
L.,—L.,—Gk.);
and de-cant as (F.,—Ital.,—L.,—Gk.).
Another
derivative is s-cant-ling, q.v., to be marked as
(F.,—L.,—Gk.).
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