I am not an expert in music, but I found the following that might help:

le varie voci seguono gli stessi moduli (o motivi), imitandosi a vicenda come nel canone

motivo = (mus) motif
canone = (mus) canon

both definitions from Harper Collins

Using these two words for a search:

Then, after a reprise of the opening canon, the movement concludes with a fugal treatment of a subject freely derived from the **canon motif.**

http://216.109.125.130/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p="canon motif"...


and

The piece begins with a short canon between the tenor and the alto lines, this ****canon motif*** repeats itself occasionally throughout

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1526379

I hope this is of some help.