The-a- gained a number of ad hoc explanations, such as a shift of*-wo- to*-wa- in open syllables,[n 1][5] or of*-n̥- to-an- before vowels.[n 2][1] The initial unroundedc- must have been levelled early into the rest of the inflection from the expected nominative outcome*cō, as*ḱw- would have regularly delabialised before a rounded vowel.[1][2]
‘‘There is aDog – they say [of?] Icarius – a star (or constellation), [and] where it has moved, the earth thirsts, [it] having been scorched, and the crop is seized beforehand.’’ (Maera (hound) found the body ofIcarius (Athenian) and became the constellationCanis Minor with the bright ‘‘dog’’ starProcyon; it, along withCanis Major, the other celestial dog with its brighter ‘‘dog’’ starSirius, were believed to cause late summer heat and drought.)
Talis enim iactatis, ut quisquecanem aut senionem miserat, in singulos talos singulos denarios in medium conferebat, quos tollebat uniuersos, qui Venerem iecerat
When thetali (oblong dice) would be thrown, those who had gotten anace or a six had to place a denarius in the middle of the table for each die thrown, the one that would achieve in getting aVenus (the best throw) won it all.
^Compare possible parallel*-o- >-a- shifts inlacus,mare,manus,lanius, etc. This assumes relevelling from the stem of the accusativecanem, which would have regularly reflected*ḱwónm̥.
^Now mostly rejected, as this assumes a relevelling on a genitive stem*ḱwn̥-, which is actually largely attested as*ḱun- in all the word's cognates.[4]
↑2.02.1Ernout, Alfred;Meillet, Antoine (1985), “canēs, canis, -is”, inDictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine: histoire des mots (in French), 4th edition, with additions and corrections ofJacques André, Paris: Klincksieck, published2001, page92
↑4.04.1Sihler, Andrew L. (1995),New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press,→ISBN,§ 100c, page98
↑5.05.1De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “canēs, -is”, inEtymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill,→ISBN,page87
“canis”, inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879),A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“canis”, inCharlton T. Lewis (1891),An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
"canis", in Charles du Fresne du Cange,Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
