Etymologically
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κάνναβις

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /kán.na.bis/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈkan.na.βis/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈkan.na.vis/[1]

Forms

κάννᾰβῐς (kánnabis) f (genitive καννάβεως or καννάβῐος); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is a loanword of unknown eastern origin, perhaps Scythian or Thracian, as Herodotus' account of the plant suggests.[2][3] Beekes and Frisk compare Sumerian kunibu (“hemp”).[2][3] Wiktionary calls it a wandering cultural word; an old proposal that derives it from Proto-Finno-Ugric is rejected by Finno-Ugric specialists.[1] Rosół lists it among Oriental loanwords of unknown origin, for which a Semitic source is doubtful.[4] Scarborough's database notes that the plant is native to Central Asia, and asks whether it is a wandering word or an early loan into late Indo-European.[5]

The word reached Germanic, as Old English hænep (“hemp”) and Old High German hanaf (“hemp”), before Grimm's law.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Herodotus (4.74) describes hemp in Scythia, used for clothing, and the Scythians' vapour bath in which its seeds were burned.[6][5]

Semantic evolution

Sophocles also has the word.[2][5] Hesychius glosses it as a Scythian incense so strong that it makes everyone present sweat, and as a plant like flax from which Thracian women make garments.[4] Dioscorides and Galen also mention it.[2][7] Its derivatives include κανναβίς (kannabís) “hemp garment”.[2]

Latin borrowed it as cannabis.[2][8] The modern form is κάναβη.[9]

Timeline

  • 5th century BC – Herodotus describes its use among the Scythians.[6][10]
  • 5th century BC – Sophocles uses the word.[2][10]
  • 1st century AD – Dioscorides mentions it.[2][7][10]
  • 2nd century AD – Galen mentions it.[2][7][10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Hemp, Cannabis sativa, as a fibre and for its seeds.[6][2]

Word family

  • καννάβινος (kannábinos)
  • κανναβάριος (kannabários)
  • Latin cannabis
  • English hemp
  • English cannabis

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  4. ^ a b Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
  5. ^ a b c Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
  6. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  7. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  9. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  10. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge