Etymologically
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cannabis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkan.na.bɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkan.na.bis][1]

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

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