canopy (n.)

"suspended covering serving as protection or shelter," late 14c., canope, from Old French conope "bed-curtain" (Modern French canapé), from Medieval Latin canopeum, a dissimilatiion of Latin conopeum "mosquito curtain,"from Greek konopeion "Egyptian couch with mosquito curtains," from konops "mosquito, gnat," which is of unknown origin; perhaps from Egyptian hams (with a hard "h") "gnat," and altered in Greek by folk-etymology.

The same word (canape) in French, Spanish, and Portuguese has taken the other part of the Greek sense and now means "sofa, couch." Italian canape is a French loan word.

"cover with or as with a canopy," c. 1600, from canopy (n.). Related: Canopied; canopying.