Skip to main content

Canacee

03Goble_Canacee&TheFalcon_100


Canacee and the Falcon by Warwick Goble

Canacee (KAN-uh-see) is a beautiful princess in Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, and in the Squire's Tale in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. She is the daughter of King Cambyuskan and Queen Elpheta of Sarai in Tartary, and Chaucer leaves her story unfinished. Apparently the squire wants to tell that her own brother has been fighting in tournaments to win his sister's hand, possibly a nod to Heroides XI by Ovid. Some critics suggest it is not in fact her brother, but a knight with the same name as her brother, and that this would have been mentioned had Chaucer finished the story, and that the shock and confusion was intentional. In her story, Canacee is given gifts by an Arabian king's messenger - a magical mirror, magical ring, and the gift of herbal wisdom. In The Faerie Queene, Canacee is one of four characters that represent friendship, the other three being her brother, sister in law and husband. Canacee's husband here is not her brother, yet his name, Cambell, has been borrowed from Chaucer's character Cambalo. The two stories have a lot of similarities, and in both there is a play on names.

Although it is not certain, Canacee's name may derive from or be influenced by Cauda Ceti, a star in Chaucer's time in the constellation Pisces. Cauda is Latin meaning "tail," while Ceti refers to any large ocean animal, such as a whale or dolphin. An adaptation of the meaning is "whale's tail," although it originally meant the tail star of the whale constellation, since the constellation Cetus is known as "The Whale." Another possibility is a Greek name, Canace, presumably pronounced the same way, which means "child of the wind" according to an entry in Baby Name Encyclopedia: The Perfect Baby Name Adviser by Sylvie Nicole. Canacee is pronounced KAN-uh-see. It is not, and has not to my knowledge, been used as a baby name. A potential nickname is Cacee (Casey).
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Massimo

Today's name: Massimo (male) Pronunciation: MAH-see-moh Potential nicknames: Masi, Simo, Max Origin: Along with Massimiliano, Massimo is the Italian variant of the Latin name Maximilian (which was the name of three Roman emperors and a few saints), meaning "greatest." Popularity: Massimo did not rank on the top 1000 baby names in 2010, but there were 148 baby boys born named Massimo and 5 named Massimiliano. In 2011 there were 107 named Massimo. Fun fact: (1) The name Maksim is also a variant of Maximilian. (2) Massimo has been the surname of many powerful Roman families. (3) Saint Massimo, a 5th century bishop. (4) Massimo D'Alema, Italian Prime Minister. (5) Massimo Capra, Canadian celebrity chef. .
Post a Comment
Read more

Galician Baby Names

I grew up on a street that was named an Italian variant of Roger. When I got married and we bought our first house, it turned out to be on Roger Street. Once noting that coincidence, I started searching for other variants of the name. However, female variants turned out to be pretty nonexistent. Save for Roxeria, which I later discovered was the Galician female form, possibly pronounced rohz-AIR-ee-uh. That led me to a few lists of female Galician names, ranging from common to rare. Here is a sampling of names not often heard here in the states... Albina Alda Alma Alodia Aloia Amada Amadora Amalia Amparo Anisia Antia Araceli Aranzazu Artemisa Avelina Azucena Baia Balbina Baltasara Beatriz Benvida Berenice Bieita Branca Braulia Caetana Carola Casilda Casimira Ceferina Celsa Cipriana Cira Clorinda Coralia Cornelia Cosima Davinia Delfina Desideria Dionisia Dominga Dorinda Dorotea Dositea Edelmira Edenia Elba Elvira Emiliana Etelvina ...
2 comments
Read more

Elowen

Elowen is a recent Cornish baby name meaning "elm." It may not take off in America like the last Cornish hit, Jennifer, but it's certainly pretty. She's part of a "linguistic revival," as Appellation Mountain puts it  here . Her nickname could be Ellie, Elle or Ella, or a more unusual choice, Wendy. The pronunciation of Elowen is "ell-LOH-en," though most Americans will probably stick with "ELL-oh-wen." Please note that it is not spelled Elowyn. There is a similar name, Eowyn, but if you spell it Elowyn it will no longer be the Cornish name meaning elm tree, just some creative name. Other great Cornish names include Penrose, Chesten (the Cornish form of Christine), Demelza, Denzel, Hammitt, Kerensa/Kerenza, Meraud (very similar to French gem name Emeraude, both meaning emerald, but Meraud is pronounced "meh-row"), Merryn, Morwenna, Tremain, Emblyn, Jory, Massen, Treeve and Cotton. Here's 's a link to a post on Cornish n...
2 comments
Read more