H3667b H3667b
merchant, trader (secondary meaning of Canaan, because Canaanites/Phoenicians were known as traders)
The word 'Canaan' developed a secondary meaning of 'merchant' or 'trader' because the Canaanites, especially the Phoenicians, were renowned as commercial traders throughout the ancient Near East. Ezekiel uses 'land of Canaan' to mean 'land of merchants,' and Zephaniah speaks of 'all the merchant people' using the Canaanite designation. This semantic extension shows how ethnic names can become professional designations when a people group dominates a particular trade or craft.
Senses
1. sense 1 — The term appears with mercantile meaning in prophetic texts. Ezekiel uses 'land of Canaan' to designate 'a land of merchants' where the eagle plants the vine (Ezek 17:4) and where Jerusalem multiplied her harlotry (Ezek 16:29, though Septuagint omits this phrase). Zephaniah pronounces judgment on 'all the merchant people' literally 'all the people of Canaan' who trade in silver (Zeph 1:11). Isaiah asks about Tyre 'whose traders' or 'whose Canaanites' were earth's honored ones (Isa 23:8), using the gentilic form with mercantile force. Spanish cananeos/sus-cananeos maintains the ethnic form while expecting readers to catch the merchant meaning, while French and German leave forms in brackets or preserve Canaan/Kenaan. 4×
AR["كَنْعَانَ", "كَنْعَانِيُّوهَا"]·ben["কনানের", "কেনানের", "তার-কেনানীয়রা"]·DE["[כנען]", "[כנעניה]"]·EN["Canaan", "Kenaan", "whose-traders"]·FR["Canaan", "[כנעניה]"]·heb["כנען", "כנעניה"]·HI["उसके-कनानी", "कनान", "कनान-की"]·ID["-Kanaan", "Kanaan", "para-Kanaannya"]·IT["Canaan", "[כנעניה]"]·jav["Kanaan", "para-sudagaripun"]·KO["가나안", "가나안의", "그의-상인들이"]·PT["Kenaan", "seus-cananeus"]·RU["Кенаана", "Ханаана", "торговцы-её"]·ES["Canaán", "sus-cananeos"]·SW["Kanaani", "na-Wakanaani-wake"]·TR["Kenaanlilari", "Kenan'in", "Kenan'ın", "ülkesine"]·urd["اُس-کے-کنعانی", "کنعان-کی", "کنعان-کے"]
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
† II. כְּנַ֫עַן n.[m.] merchant(s) (because Canaanites, especially Phoenicians, were traders);—כָּל־עַם כְּנַעַן Zp 1:11; אֶרֶץ כ׳ Ez 16:29 (om. 𝔊 B al. Co), 17:4 a land of merchants; cf. כנעני ad fin.