Further on the Etymology of "cannabis"

[Rev. Joshua Snider]

Hello everyone,
Below is Sara Benetowa's article from "The Book of Grass" and following it are my etymology articles.

TRACING ONE WORD THROUGH
DIFFERENT LANGUAGES Sara Benetowa

As evidence now shows, in antiquity hemp was used in widely differing cultures. In the following article, Sara Benetowa of the Institute of Anthropological Sciences in Warsaw, attempts to find out through a comparative study of languages in what cultural environment hemp was first used as a narcotic.

After having compared the words meaning hemp in Indo-European, Finnish, Turkish and Tartar, and Semitic language groups, the conclusion was reached that, leaving aside all the obviously borrowed words, either Finnish, Turkish, Celtic, or Roman, there remained four groups to investigate: 1. Sanskrit-cana; 2. Slav-konopla; 3. Semitic, for example in Assyro-Babylonia-kannab; 4. Greek: cannabis.
In all these languages the words meaning hemp have a common root: kan. This root with the double meaning of ‘hemp’ and ‘cane’ is common to almost all the languages of antiquity.
It is easy to show that ‘canna’ means both ‘hemp’ and ‘cane’. But what is the meaning of the ending ‘bis’? The answer is not difficult to find if one notices an interesting detail encountered in several Semitic texts from Oriental antiquity. For example, let us look at the original text of the Old Testament and its Aramaic translation, the ‘Targum Onculos’. The word ‘kane’ or ‘kene’ sometimes appears alone and is sometimes linked to the adjective ‘bosm’ (in Hebrew) or ‘busma’ (in Aramaic) which means: odorous, smelling good, aromatic. As I demonstrate in detailed fashion in this study, the Biblical ‘kane bosm’ and the Aramaic ‘kene busma’ both mean hemp. The linguistic evolution of the terms in question leads to the formation of the unique term ‘kanabos’ or ‘kanbos’. This is encountered in the Mischna, the collection of traditional Hebrew law which contains many Aramaic elements. The astonishing resemblance between the Semitic ‘kanbos’ and the Scythian ‘cannabis’ lead me to suppose that the Scythian word was of Semitic origin. These etymological discussions run parallel to arguments drawn from history. The Iranian Scythians were probably related to the Medes, who were neighbors of the Semites and could easily assimilated the word for hemp. The Semites could also have spread the word during their migrations through Asia Minor.
Taking into account the matriarchal element of Semitic culture, one is led to believe, that Asia Minor was the original point of expansion for both the society based on the Matriarchal circle and the mass use of hashish.
Let us look for factors which could have contributed to the start of mass use of hashish in the matriarchal circle. One important factor is that in preparing fibre from the plant and during the harvest the strong odour intoxicates the workers. According to ancient customs still surviving in modern times, all work involving hemp is done in mass. Since antiquity the hemp harvest has been considered a holiday, especially for the young people. In many countries the harvest is a sort of reunion to which guests come with or without masks and give all sorts of presents to the workers. Here we see an obvious link with the masculine secret societies in the matriarchal circle in which there is mass use of hashish. Another factor is the making of sacrifices to the ancestors, which is common practice in the masculine secret societies.
Here is another obvious link between the character of this plant used in the cult of the dead and the masculine secret societies founded on that cult. Many peculiarities of the ancestor cult can be brought forth as evidence of this.
In Poland on the night before Christmas a ritual dish is served made of hemp seeds, called ‘hemp soup’, because according to popular superstition at that time the souls of the dead visit their friends and family to feast together. Another trace is the Polish habit of throwing a few hemp seeds in the fire ‘as a sacrifice’ during the harvest.
An obvious link between sacrifices in honour of the dead and the mass use of hashish is to be found in the Scythian funeral ceremony.
After the burial, the Scythians purified themselves in the following manner: they washed and anointed there heads and, after having planted posts in the ground and wrapped cloth around them, they through hemp into receptacles filled with red-hot stones.
By comparing the old Slavic word ‘kepati’ and the Russian ‘kupati’ with the Scythian ‘cannabis’ Schrader developed and justified Meringer’s supposition that there is a link between the Scythian baths and Russian vapor baths.
In the entire Orient even today to ‘go out to the bath’ means not only to accomplish an act of purification and enjoy a pleasure, but also to fulfil the divine law. Vambrey calls ‘bath’ any club in which the members play checkers, drink coffee, and smoke hashish or tobacco.
The tobacco imported from America spread so rapidly through Europe because the way had been prepared for it by hemp.


NAMES OF THE PLANT

anascha-Russia hanpr-Norway
banga-Sanskrit haschisch-France
bangi-Congo hashish-Africa, Asia
bhang-India hemp-Great Britain
boo-USA hennep-Holland
cabza-India herbe-France
canab- Brittany hierba-Mexico
canaib-Ireland hsien ma tse-China
cannapa-Italy Indian hay-USA
canna-Persia intsangu-South Africa
cannapis-Rumania jive-USA
chanvre-France -USA
charas-India joy-USA
charge-USA juana-Mexico
dagga-South Africa juanita-Mexico
dawemesk-Algeria kanapes-Lithuania
diamba-Brazil kanas-Brittany
djamba-South Africa kanbun-Chaldean
esrar-Turkey, Persia kanebosm-Hebrew
ganjah-India kanebusma-Aramaic
ganjika-Sanskrit kanep-Albania
gauge-USA kannab-Arabia
goni-Sanskrit kanopia-Czechoslovakia
goo-USA kendir-Tartar
grass-USA kendiros-Tartar
grifa-Spain, Mexico khanchha-Cambodia
haenep-Old English kif-North Africa
hamp-Denmark kinder-Tartar
hampa-Sweden konop-Bugaria
hampr-Finland konopie-Poland
hanf-Germany konoplja-Russia
liamba-Brazil pajuela-Mexico
loco weed (confused with pot-USA
datura)-USA qunubu-Assyrian
maconha-Brazil rap-India
majoun-North Africa, Middle East reefer-USA
marihuana-Mexico, USA, Europe rosamaria-Mexico
marijuana-Mexico, USA, Europe rup-India
mary jane-USA so-la-ra-dsa-Tibet
matakwane-Sotho (South Africa) sonadora-Mexico
mbangi-Tanzania stick-USA
momea-Tibet suruma-Ronga (Africa)
mora-Mexico takouri-Tunisia
morisqueta-mexico tea-USA
mota-Mexico tiamba-Brazil
muggles-USA tirsa-Mexico
muta-USA umia-Xhosa (Africa)
nena-Mexico weed-USA
nsangu-Zulu wheat-Europe



My Articles


Many people (even scholars!) speculate that the word cannabis moved to the Middle East and Europe from the Far East. Most English etymological dictionaries trace the word hemp-cannabis to the Scythians via the Greek historian Herodotus (approximately 500 B.C.). The word is however said to occur at least two hundred years earlier in the Assyrian tablet of Assur(i)banibal (in ritual use no less). The Assyrians were/are a Semitic people closely related to the Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic peoples.
The leading authorities on the etymology of both the German and Russian languages list a Sumerian cognate (these are ,,Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache" Kluge 23rd edition by Elmar Seebold 1999 on page 354, and ,,Russisches etymologisches Wörterbuch." Heidelberg: Winter by Max Vasmer 1950-1959 in three volumes, vol. 1 page 615 (there is also an expanded Russian language translation of this). Beyond this an Article written in Swedish lists both kunibu-cannabis and gamun-cumin as Sumerian words. This article is ,,Sumerna och deras kultur(The Sumerians and their culture)" föredragvid finska vetenskapsocietens sammanträde den 13 December 1943 av(by) Knut Tallqvist in ,,Societas Scientarium Fennica Årsbok- Vousikirja 22nd band No: 3, Helsingfors 1944" See page 22. This is important not only because it places the word cannabis in the region approximately 3000 years prior to Herodotus but also because cumin is usually given as a word that stems from Semitic (and Hebrew in particular). The Hebrew word for cumin only occurs three times in the Old Testament (once in Isaiah 28: 25 and twice in 28: 27).
I hope that you may also find the following insightful as well as interesting. A quote from "A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English" by Rabbi Ernest Klein, Carta Jerusalem, University of Haifa 1987, runs as follows "Since early times, humanity has tried to find out why things are called by the words that denote them; The Hebrew Bible offers quite a few instances e.g. Genesis 2: 23. The Greeks called this: finding the true meaning of the word, "true" being etymos, literally "that which is", and "etymology" meant originally "using words in their true sense". This "truth" was found by deriving existing words from other words, in the same or in another language. The first known systematic attempt to use such connections not for speculation as to the true nature of things, but in order to discover the meanings of words, was made by Jewish scholars in North Africa, Spain and later in Southern France, between 900 and 1350 C.E. They deduced the meanings of difficult Biblical words from corresponding words in Arabic and Aramaic, applying rules for which consonants in one language corresponded to a given consonant in another." This was an ingenious and amazing achievement but the fact that Arabic and Aramaic could have easily, by this time, lost many of the subtleties accompanying a variety of words like bosem for example (subtleties which may still be reflected in Medieval and Modern Hebrew, for example Klein's dictionary gives Medieval and Modern Hebrew meanings which include spicing, perfuming, and becoming intoxicated or drunk, on the attached page (page 86) taken from this dictionary MH and NH stand for Medieval Hebrew and New Hebrew respectively ), this compounded with the inaccuracies contained in the long accepted Greek Septuagint could have very easily added an extra layer to the shroud covering the truth.


Peace, Love and Respect to all,
Humbly submitted by
Rev. Joshua Snider

In my previous article I suggested that Arabic and Aramaic may have lost much of the original color that the word bosem may have originally conveyed. This is probably true although it can be seen from the following page (page 9 with definitions of "enjoy oneself, delight", and "annoint") taken from “ A Syriac-English Glossary With Etymological Notes” by M.H. Goshen-Gottstein, based on Brockelmann’s Syriac Chrestomathy 1970, that at least Syriac Aramaic seems to have retained much of this ancient color.
The excerpt and reference below is taken from the article “Early Diffusion And Folk Uses of Hemp” by Sula Benet in “Cannabis and Culture” 1975

Another piece of evidence regarding the use of the word 'kaneh' in
the sense of hemp rather than reed among the Hebrews is the religious
requirement that the dead be buried in 'kaneh' shirts. Centuries later,
linen was substituted for hemp (Klein 1908).

KLEIN, SIEGFRIED 1908 Tod und Begrabnis in Palistina. Berlin: H.
Itzkowski.

Peace, Love and Respect to all.
Humbly submitted with my deepest apologies for prior oversights,
Rev. Joshua Snider

Although gifted scholars have suggested that the m in kaneh bosem represents a plural, it can be seen from the above material that bosem appears to be one of two complete morphemes making up the compound word “fragrant” or “intoxicating hemp”. I do however feel that these scholars seem to be on the right track. The similarity of the m in bosem to the m of the masculine plural would seem to have led to the reanalysis of kaneh bosem as a plural, leading in turn to the loss of this m in the kanbos of the Mishna and the Scythian and Greek cannabis. It is unlikely, even on account of syllables, that the word cannabis consists of only one morpheme. So far as I have seen, no other theory has yet been advanced attempting to explain the meaning of the component morphemes of cannabis in any detail. Aside from no other theory being advanced, the weight of the above material suggests that this scenario is not unlikely.

Peace, Love and Respect to all.
Humbly submitted,
Rev. Joshua Snider
_________________
http://www.thc-ministry.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3882

http://www.thc-ministry.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8053&start=0

www.cannabischurches.net

[rainbowbeamer]

Few have seen alien glyphs, picto-glyph have morphed into Chinese - 30,000 and other Far East characters.

Ever consider the idea to spin ancient character on axis of symmerty and axis of asymmerty for patterns that may individually or collectivly in words tell a greater story visually?

What may might we see in that effort?

http://www.enterprisemission.com Richard Hoagland is a champion hyperdimensionalist theorist

Would love to see weed's true origin come out in such a effort. Or new awarenesses that make life more interesting and satisfying.
_________________

“When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.” - Thomas Paine

[rainbowbeamer]

Go to http://yahoo.com and ask search engine for the country, ie yahoo Germany, to get examples of letters in language interested in on a web page.

http://de.yahoo.com

Now, just cut letter proper to paste where you want that character to appear.

Even do that with Chinese.

I'm Honolulu, glad to help you out anyway language master.

slow loads - http://www.online-translator.com/text.asp?lang=en

http://www.omnilang.com/
_________________

“When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.” - Thomas Paine

[rainbowbeamer]

see character generator in wiki-pedia edit choice

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Blues_Brothers&action=edit&section=10

careful EDITOR OPEN to see example


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_________________

“When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.” - Thomas Paine

[Rev. Joshua Snider]

Hello rainbowbeamer,
Sorry it has taken me so long to reply, here is a more orthographically corect representation of the above references.
Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache" Kluge 23rd edition by Elmar Seebold 1999 and ,,Russisches etymologisches Wörterbuch." Heidelberg: Winter by Max Vasmer 1950-1959 in three volumes (there is also an expanded Russian language translation of this). Beyond this an Article written in Swedish lists both kunibu-cannabis and gamun-cumin as Sumerian words. This article is ,,Sumerna och deras kultur(The Sumerians and their culture)" föredragvid finska vetenskapsocietens sammanträde den 13 December 1943 av(by) Knut Tallqvist in ,,Societas Scientarium Fennica Årsbok- Vousikirja 22nd band No: 3, Helsingfors 1944" See page 22.
I must also appologize for spelling Chris Bennett's incorrectly. Thank you also for your kind words but I don't know that I am comfortable with or worthy of being called a language master. At least thirteen to fifteen of the official living languages that I have a high degree of proficiency in are the surviving Germanic languages and some of those vary only slightly from each other on the written page like Dutch/Nederlands and Flemmish/Vlaams or Danish/Dansk and Norwegian/Nørske and the remainder of my languages are mostly Semitic and Slavic, and the similarities among the languages for both of these respective famillies are perhaps even more striking than those found among the Germanic languages. Your first response was, I'm afraid, a little over my head and I didn't quite understand your questions. My appologies and thank you again. Please forgive my English language misspellings I have not ran spellcheck.
Peace, Love and Respect,
Rev. Joshua Snider