Already in Old English the Old English preposition tō 'to, into' (and other senses) gave rise to an adverb tō 'besides, also; moreover'. In normal speech the preposition was generally unstressed, and as a result the vowel tended to be reduced from [ō] to [ɔ] or perhaps even to [ɑ], since the spelling ta actually occurs. Similarly, in present-day English the preposition to in connected speech is usually unstressed and reduced: ‘I went t[ə] the store’, not ‘I went t[ū] the store’. The Old English adverb, on the other hand, was likely to receive stress in connected discourse and therefore to retain the full vowel: [tō].
This situation continued into Middle English. However, during the later Middle English (and extending into the Early Modern English) period the pronunciation of English long vowels changed dramatically. These changes are collectively known as the (English) Great Vowel Shift (GVS). (See these pages for more information.) In particular, [ō] shifted to [ū], the vowel in present-day English too. At this point the preposition was usually pronounced something like [tə] in connected speech, while the adverb was [tū], pretty much as in present-day English. This greater disconnect between the two pronunciations tended to obscure the historical relationship between the preposition and the adverb.
Middle English spelling was of course not standardized, but vowel length was often indicated by doubling. As a result, words with the vowel [ō] were often spelled with oo, though this seems not generally to have occurred with the adverb in question. After the GVS, words spelled with this oo were pronounced with [ū], and as spelling became increasingly standardized, oo was more and more associated with the vowel [ū]. Since the adverb had for some time been clearly distinguished from the preposition in pronunciation as well as in sense, there was no real reason to maintain the historical connection, and too, a spelling that represented the actual pronunciation of the adverb, gradually displaced the older to spelling.
Ah, Negative Polarity again.
(BTW, I am informed that there is now an NPI tag, which anyone is allowed to use to mark questions with. Feel free.)
Whenever you see a negative (like never) in a sentence, you know you've got trouble. Especially if you see more than one, or if there's a modal in the sentence as well. Luckily, that's not the case here.
First, NPIs. The word ever means at any time, i.e, *anywhen. But people don't say *anywhen (the asterisk means it's ungrammatical); they say ever instead, the same way they don't say *all two,
but rather say both instead.
The interesting thing about the word ever is that it's a Negative Polarity Item (NPI), like any; indeed, it's just a variant of any. NPIs can't occur outside a negative context, which is why it sounds so awful to say
That's why there's a not in
- I have not ever been there.
Never is just a contraction of not ever, the same way none is a contraction for not one.
Both of those are fine, because they're negative. One is a contraction of the other, so there's no meaning difference.
As for such a thing, it's an idiom, in this case a pretty frozen one, which indicates surprise at the extreme nature of whatever the "thing" is sposta be. So you get to express surprised indignation at the same time you deny experience of extremes. Pretty useful phrase.
Best Answer
They may be distantly related, but it cannot be known for certain. From etymonline.com:
And Latin canna is from Greek kanna, "reed".
So cannon derived from Greek kanna "reed" (both are hollow tubes), and canon may have derived from Greek kanna "reed" (both are straight rules).
Even if these words are not connected, Anatoly Liberman's Word Origins And How We Know Them: Etymology for Everyone explains many other similar can- words are connected: cane as a walking stick, as a cane chair and as cane sugar are from a "hollow stem", from Latin canna "reed, cane, tube, pipe". Can "pot" via Latin canna "vessel", canal and channel are "pipes" via French, as is canyon a "pipe" but via Spanish. The Italian canellone and cannoli are "small tubes".