Canaan
ke.na.an is chiefly the name of a land, while some verses name a person and the inhabitants or daughters associated with that name.
The proper noun chiefly identifies a land: people travel to it, live in it, face famine there, and receive it as a possession. A smaller set of verses uses the name for a person in ancestral notices, while others speak of inhabitants or daughters associated with it.
Senses in use
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The land as a destination, dwelling place, or possession · dominant
The proper-noun form identifies the land to which Terah and Abram set out and arrive in Genesis 11:31 and Genesis 12:5. It also marks land granted as a possession in Genesis 17:8 and land affected by famine in Genesis 47:13; in Genesis 12:5 the APB renders the repeated destination and arrival as “the land of Canaan.”
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A person in ancestral and family notices · occasional
The proper-noun form names a son of Ham in Genesis 10:6 and a father of Sidon and Heth in Genesis 10:15. In Genesis 9:25 the same name is the addressee of the spoken curse; the APB renders the clause, “Cursed be Canaan.”
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Inhabitants and daughters associated with the name · rare
The proper-noun form occurs in expressions for “the inhabitants” who melt away in Exodus 15:15 and “the daughters” from whom Isaac tells Jacob not to take a wife in Genesis 28:1. Genesis 36:2 similarly places Esau’s wives among the daughters of Canaan; the APB renders those clauses with “inhabitants of Canaan” and “daughters of Canaan.”
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the cited verses, the APB commonly presents the name in phrases such as “the land of Canaan,” while genealogical and population contexts use “Canaan,” “inhabitants of Canaan,” and “daughters of Canaan.” These English expressions reflect whole clauses rather than a word-by-word alignment.