Canon

Etymology

Greek kanon / Ancient Greek: κανών,^[3] Arabic qaanoon / قانون, Hebrew kaneh / קָנֶה, 'straight'; a rule, code, standard, or measure; the root meaning in all these languages is 'reed'; see also the Romance-language ancestors of the English word cane.

In the fourth century, the First Council of Nicaea (325) calls canons the disciplinary measures of the church: the term canon, κανὠν, means in Greek, a rule.

There is a very early distinction between the rules enacted by the church and the legislative measures taken by the state called leges, Latin for laws.^[4]