Canope

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An obsolete spelling of canopy, meaning a cloth covering or overhanging structure set above a bed, throne, or altar
2. An archaic term for a canopy, a decorative hanging or cover suspended over a person of rank or a sacred place
3. A old-fashioned word for a canopy, referring to a fabric or framework that hangs or stands above something to shelter it

Etymology: The Greek word "kōnōps" meant "gnat," and the mosquito net took its name from the insect it kept out. Herodotus described such nets hung over beds in Egypt, and the Greeks called them "kōnōpeion." The Romans borrowed this as Latin "conopeum," meaning a bed curtain or mosquito net. From Latin, the word passed into Medieval Latin and then Old French, where it became "canopé." English took it in that form, and its meaning drifted from a gauze net over a sleeper to a cloth canopy hung above a bed, throne, or altar. The English spelling was later reshaped to "canopy," which is the form most readers know today.