Canăbus
(
κάναβος or
κάνναβος). A
wooden stock or framework used by potters and sculptors round which the clay was laid (
Poll.vii. 164). In small statues (
sigilla) and
vessels it was of the simplest description, and mostly of the form of a cross,
crux or
stipes (Tertull.
Apol. 12;
ad Nat. i. 12). It is applied to very lean
persons (Strattis
ap. Pollux, x. 189;
Anth. P. xi. 107),
as we should say “a skeleton.” It is the same word as the Latin
cannaba, “a booth,” both signifying a construction like a
scaffold or framework. The word seems to have been also used for the outline figure which
sculptors and painters used as a model (Suidas, s. h. v.).