Canal, Cape, Chop, Coast - Word Origins, Descriptions of Coastal Features, Processes

In the current alphabetic series of word origins and physical descriptions of coastal features and processes, here are canal, cape, chop, coast, coastal plain, coastal zone, coasting, coastland, and coastline.

Canal
Modern English canal comes from Middle English canal, from Latin canalis ("pipe, channel"), from canna ("reed, cane"), from Greek kanna ("reed, cane"), of Semitic origin. The word is akin to Arabic qanah ("hollow stick, reed").

The original, now obsolete, meaning of canal is a pipe for conveying liquid. The primary modern meaning of the word is an artificial waterway.

However, canal also denotes various kinds of natural water features. Broadly, it refers to any channel or watercourse, especially a strait (a narrow passageway connecting two large bodies of water). More specifically, a narrow arm of a sea extending far inland and having a fairly uniform width is sometimes called a canal.

Cape
The Modern English coast-related word cape comes from Middle English cap, from Middle French and Old Provençal cap, from Latin caput ("head").

A piece of land extending out into water is a cape. A large cape is also called a peninsula (such as Cape Cod, Massachusetts), while a relatively small one may be termed a projecting point (such as Cape Hatteras, North Carolina).

Chop
The Modern English noun chop comes from Middle English choppe, from the verb choppen. The word is akin to Middle Dutch cappen ("to cut down").

The original meaning of chop is any act of chopping or cutting.

The short abrupt motion of a broken wave is called a chop. By extension, the word chop also refers to a stretch of choppy sea, especially one caused by a current or a tide moving in a direction opposite to the wind or to another current.

Coast
Modern English coast comes from Middle English cost, from Middle French coste, from Latin costa ("rib, side").

The land that borders a sea is a coast. The word is used in at least two different senses. It may refer to only the land immediately abutting the sea, or it may refer to a broad coastal region, sometimes including the whole coastal plain (see coastal plain below).

The coasts of the world are not permanent. They have undergone many changes in shape and position over geologic time. Factors causing such changes include variations in the relative levels of land and sea; erosion processes, especially wave and wind action; movements of rock debris by currents; and tectonic activities.

Here are some important terms using the word coast.

Coastal plain: a plain extending inland from a seashore, often indicating that the land is of geologically recent emergence.

Coastal zone: the area where land and sea interact and where coastal processes (such as the forming and eroding of land) occur.

Coasting: a coastline, or the configuration of a coast.

Coastland: the land bordering a sea, or a section of a seacoast.

Coastline: a line that forms the boundary between land and sea (this line constantly varies, of course, because of the tides). The term also refers more broadly to the general outline of a coast.
______________________________

Encyclopaedia Britannica Ready Reference 2004. CD-ROM. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2004.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2006.

Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2007.

The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1989.