cannon [ME] This large heavy piece of artillery derives its name from French canon, from Italian cannone ‘large tube’, from canna ‘cane, reed, tube’. Soldiers have been called cannon fodder, no more than material to be used up in war, since the mid 19th century—the expression is a translation of German Kanonenfutter. Canna or its Greek equivalent kanna is the base of a number of other words in English, as well as giving us the name of the canna lily [L16th], which gets its name from the shape of its leaves. Some reflect the use of the plants for making things, some their hollow stems. Canes [ME] are basically hollow. Canister [LME] was originally a basket from Latin canistrum ‘basket for bread, fruit, or flowers’, from Greek kanastron ‘wicker basket’, from kanna. Canal [LME] and channel [ME] both come via French from Latin canalis ‘pipe, groove, channel’ from canna, and share a source with the Italian pasta cannelloni [M19th]. The medical cannula [E17th] was originally a ‘small reed’; a canyon [M19th] is from Spanish cañón ‘tube’ from canna.