canon vs principle

canon

noun
  • A generally accepted principle; a rule. 

  • a formally codified set of criteria deemed mandatory for a particular artistic style of figurative art. 

  • A canon regular, a member of any of several Roman Catholic religious orders. 

  • A piece of music in which the same melody is played by different voices, but beginning at different times; a round. 

  • The works of a writer that have been accepted as authentic. 

  • A rolled and filleted loin of meat; also called a cannon. 

  • Those sources, especially including literary works, which are considered part of the main continuity regarding a given fictional universe. 

  • The part of a bell by which it is suspended; the ear or shank of a bell. 

  • In monasteries, a book containing the rules of a religious order. 

  • A eucharistic prayer, particularly the Roman Canon. 

  • A group of literary works that are generally accepted as representing a field. 

  • A rent or stipend payable at some regular time, generally annual, e.g., canon frumentarius 

  • A religious law or body of law decreed by the church. 

  • A catalogue of saints acknowledged and canonized in the Roman Catholic Church. 

  • A clergy member serving a cathedral or collegiate church. 

principle

noun
  • A fundamental assumption or guiding belief. 

  • A fundamental essence, particularly one producing a given quality. 

  • A rule used to choose among solutions to a problem. 

  • A rule or law of nature, or the basic idea on how the laws of nature are applied. 

  • Bernoulli's Principle 

  • An original faculty or endowment. 

  • A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause. 

  • Moral rule or aspect. 

verb
  • To equip with principles; to establish, or fix, in certain principles; to impress with any tenet or rule of conduct. 

How often have the words canon and principle occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )