American Heritage on "chant":

ETYMOLOGY:
Probably from French, song, from Old French, from Latin cantus, from past participle of canere, to sing. V., from Middle English chaunten, to sing, from Old French chanter, from Latin cantre, frequentative of canere. See kan- in Appendix I.

Whether the derivation of the English usage is via the French or more directly from the Latin is problematic, but probably not terribly significant.

A