[Bell Historians] One N or two?

[edward martin]

"I tried to persuade Paul Cattermole to use one 'n' but was not
sufficiently eminent!"
Good, pleased to read that.

If I wanted to find the etymology of the word 'taxi' would I consult a
cabbie, or the factory that makes them, or the bloke on the corner
selling newspapers or simply take a wild guess? No, none of the above.
Go to The Oxford English Dictionary

For the origin of the word cannon as pertains to bell ringing, rather
than consult an eminent bell founder or a host of eminent bell
historians or etc... wouldn't it be most advisable to consult an
eminent philologist?  or at least his work?

Any decent dictionary of the English language is not in disagreement
with the best: The Oxford English Dictionary, which clearly gives us
two routes to consider:
Canon as from the Latin 'canon'  meaning rule or law &
Cannon as from the Latin 'canna'  meaning reed, cane or tube.
Compare this (brief) etymology:

Canon
Rule, law (of the Church);Old English;
Central portion of the Mass XIII;
List of books of the Bible accepted as authentic XIV.
Latin canon = Greek kanon  meaning rule; reinforced or superseded by
Middle English cano(u)n and was continued as canoo, the present
spelling  (XVIII) being due to the French canoe. Forms based on the
Dutch cano were also current.
Clergymen living according to the 'vita canonica' , ie religious life
based on rule XIII.
Middle English canun,canoun, also chanun, chanoun,
Old French canonie, chanoine.

Cannon
Piece of ordnance XVI
Old French canon, Italian cannone from the Latin canna meaning tube,
cane or reed

Now,  (if you avoid the French who spelt both words canon), which of
these two quite distinct etymological routes makes more sense when
applied to the thing by which bells used to be suspended?
One can be flippant & humorous , but let's be serious. Obviously the
bell cannons are TUBES  and have nowt to do with ecclesiastical rule
of law. If they had, then they would be canons !

mew

On 9/14/06, David Bryant <davidbryant at eg_Bg32iUCHNj8Rg_hsdLfGAFiA--887yjckX2ZZEPI-tu_dY0d-sIo16xCJRd_wrPugyQa6UOkycHVNhOqlfA5z.yahoo.invalid> wrote:
> >One of the discrepancies that has occurred since our merger is one of
> >spelling. The Taylor side has always spelt "canons" with one N, however
> >David Marshall is insistent that there are two but, whilst it is true he
> >has been around longer than the rest of us, we remain unswayed and
> >unconvinced.
>
> I would go with one 'N', and most bell historians since Fred Sharpe seem to
> have (Walters used two 'N's as I recall). There seems no clear etymology of
> the word - 'cannon' refers the a large gun, wheread 'canon' has several
> meanings. I have heard it suggested that 'canon'  in the bell sense may be
> derived from the fact that it supports the bell in the same way that the
> canons of the church uphold that organisation - this seems a bit of a woolly
> explanation, though.
>
> I think it's one of those questions which there will never be agreement on!
>
> David
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