cannabis

Forms

cannabis f (genitive cannabis); third declension^[1] Also cannabus (masculine), cannabum (neuter) and cannaba.^[2][3][4] The ablative is usually cannabī, but cannabe in Persius.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κάνναβις (kánnabis, “hemp”).^[2][7][8][1] According to Etymonline the Greek word is itself a Scythian or Thracian word.^[9]

Isidore of Seville derived ⟨cannabum⟩ from its likeness to the reed, canna.^[7] It is the source of Italian canapa.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first author to use it is Varro, in his work on farming;^[10][6][4] Columella and Pliny the Elder also write of it as a crop.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

It names the hemp plant and its fibre,^[2][6] and in Persius a rope twisted from hemp.^[2][4] Medieval Latin used it for hemp as a crop and as a medicine, for hemp yarn, rope and cloth, and in records of tithes, tolls and markets;^[11] English charters list tithes of hemp beside flax.^[12] In 1728 it became the name of the botanical genus, the source of English cannabis.^[9]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro mentions hemp among farm crops.^[6][10]
• 34–62 AD – Persius uses it of a hempen rope.^[2][10]
• 1157 – A Norman charter grants tithes of corn and hemp.^[12]
• 1728 – Cannabis is used in New Latin as the name of the plant genus.^[9]
• 1798 – Borrowed into English as cannabis, “common hemp”.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. hemp, the plant and its fibre.^[2][6]
2. (poetic) A hempen rope.^[2][4]
3. (Medieval Latin) Hemp yarn; hempen cloth.^[11]

Word family

• cannabinus
• cannabius

Related words

• canna
• English canvas

Usage notes

The grammarian Caper recommends the neuter cannabe rather than cannabis.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
11. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
12. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press