Where does Canvas come from?

Canvas comes from Mediterranean, where it dates to Antiquity.

Plate No. 031fabric

First documented: Antiquity
Origin: Mediterranean
Fiber: cotton, linen, hemp
Weave: plain or basket weave, heavy
Family: plain

Plate No. 031 · fabric

Canvas

Canvas is the heavy, firm plain-woven cloth of work: sails, tents, tarpaulins, painters' grounds, and workwear. The name records its first fiber, hemp, though cotton and linen long ago took over. Plain-woven canvas is called duck, from the Dutch doek, cloth, and is graded by weight in a numbered system where lower numbers mean heavier cloth. Its virtue is the simplest one a textile can have: a dense, stable surface that resists tearing and holds whatever is put on it.

Illustration: a sailmaker's loft, a vast white sail spread across the wooden floor, sailmakers seen from behind stitching with palm and needle, ship models on the sill — A sailmaker's loft, a vast white sail spread across the wooden floor, sailmakers seen from behind stitching with palm and needle, ship models on the sill.

Named for

From the Latin cannabis: the original canvas was hemp cloth.

Common questions

What is Canvas made of?: Canvas is the heavy, firm plain-woven cloth of work: sails, tents, tarpaulins, painters' grounds, and workwear. It is traditionally made of cotton, linen, or hemp.
Where does Canvas come from?: Canvas comes from Mediterranean, where it dates to Antiquity.
What is Canvas named after?: From the Latin cannabis: the original canvas was hemp cloth.