H3667a H3667a
Canaan -- the grandson of Noah and eponymous ancestor of the Canaanites; the promised land west of the Jordan; by metonymy, a merchant.
A proper noun with deep layers of meaning in the biblical narrative. Canaan names both the cursed grandson of Noah through Ham (Gen 9:25) and the entire territory west of the Jordan that became the land of Israel's inheritance. The name carried strong commercial connotations in antiquity: Canaanites and Phoenicians were the great traders of the ancient Near East, so by Hosea's day the word itself could mean 'merchant' (Hos 12:7). Transliterated remarkably consistently across languages -- Spanish Canaan, French Canaan, German Kanaan -- reflecting its universal recognition as a biblical place name.
Senses
1. Canaan (proper noun: land/person) — The proper noun Canaan, denoting either the person (grandson of Noah, son of Ham, cursed in Gen 9:25-27, ancestor of the Canaanite nations listed in Gen 10:15-18) or the geographic territory west of the Jordan settled by Israel. Cross-linguistically transliterated with near-uniformity -- Canaan (Eng/Fra), Canaan/Kenaan (Spa), Kanaan (Deu) -- confirming its stable proper-noun status across all 89 occurrences. 89×
AR["كَنْعانَ", "كَنْعَان", "كَنْعَانَ", "كَنْعَانُ"]·ben["কনান", "কনানের"]·DE["Kanaan", "Kanaan-ist", "Kanaan-liegt", "Kanaans"]·EN["Canaan"]·FR["Canaan"]·heb["כנען"]·HI["कनान", "कनान-की", "कनान-के", "केनअन", "केनाआन", "केनाआन-का"]·ID["Kanaan"]·IT["Canaan"]·jav["Kanaan"]·KO["가나안", "가나안-의", "가나안-이", "가나안의"]·PT["Canaã", "Kena'an"]·RU["Ханаан", "Ханаана"]·ES["Canaán", "Kenaan"]·SW["Kanaa", "Kanaani", "Kanani"]·TR["Kenan", "Kenan'in", "Kenan'ın"]·urd["کنعان", "کنعان-کا", "کنعان-کی", "کنعان-کے"]
2. merchant, trader (metonymic from Canaanite) — A metonymic common-noun usage meaning 'merchant, trader,' attested once in Hos 12:7 where the prophet exploits the ancient association between Canaanites/Phoenicians and commerce. Spanish renders 'Canaan' while English gives 'a merchant,' revealing how translations split between preserving the proper-noun form and making the commercial metaphor explicit. 1×
AR["كَنعانُ"]·ben["কনান"]·DE["[כנען]"]·EN["a-merchant"]·FR["Canaan"]·heb["כנען"]·HI["कनानी"]·IT["[כנען]"]·jav["sudagar"]·KO["가나안은"]·PT["Canaã"]·RU["Ханаан"]·ES["Canaán"]·SW["mfanyabiashara"]·TR["Kenan"]·urd["کنعان"]
Related Senses
G3588 1. definite article (18298×)H0853 1. definite direct object marker (10915×)G2532 1. (8312×)H3068 1. YHWH (the divine name) (6522×)H0834a 1. relative pronoun (who/which/that) (4839×)H3588a 1. causal: because, for (3498×)G1161 1. and (2806×)H3478 1. Israel (proper name and nation) (2507×)G4771 1. you (plural address) (1853×)H1931 1. personal pronoun he/she/it (1431×)G3739 1. relative pronoun who/which/that (1149×)H1732 1. David (proper name) (1075×)H2088 1. this, this one (demonstrative) (1059×)G1063 1. (1047×)G3778 1. this thing, these things (1003×)H???? 2. (1002×)G2424 1. (924×)G3754 1. that (content clause) (881×)H2009 1. presentative particle: behold, look (881×)H0589 1. I (first person singular pronoun) (874×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
I. כְּנַ֫עַן90 n.pr.m. et terr. Canaan (𝔊 Χανααν, Ph. כנען = Phoenicia; Χνα = כנע, Hecataeus, v. MüllerFr. Hist. Gr. i, 17 al.; Egyptian Ka-n-ʿ-nḁ WMMAsien u. Europa, 205 ff.; Tel Amarna Kina̮hna, Kinaḫḫi, etc., BezoldBM Tablets, 150 WklTA 39; etym. dub. GFMPAOS Oct. 1890, lxvii ff.; v. also GASmGeogr. 4 f. BuhlGeogr. § 42);— †1. as n.pr.m., son of Ham Gn 9:18, 22, 25, 27; 10:15 (as ancestor of…