cânhamo

Forms

cânhamo m (plural cânhamos)^[1] The 15th century wrote canamo and canano.^[2] Cardoso (1569) and Morais (1789) head the word canamo, and the form cânamo is still listed by Figueiredo.^[3][4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish cáñamo, recorded in Spanish since 1170.^{[2][1][6][7][8]} The Spanish word comes from Late Latin cannabum, the form Isidore uses, beside classical cannabis (“hemp”).^[9][2][10] In Spanish the Latin b became m by the spread of the nasality, a change documented from the 11th century.^[9] The DLP derives the Portuguese word directly from Latin, and Vieira explained the m as in mormo from morbus.^[11][12] The REW records an inherited Old Portuguese word Old Galician-Portuguese caneve.^[13]

The Latin word was borrowed from Ancient Greek κάνναβις (kánnabis).^[10][1][14] The Greek word is a Wanderwort of unknown origin: Scythian or Thracian origin has been proposed, and LSJ suggests a borrowing from Finno-Ugric, a compound Finno-Ugricists reject.^[1][15][16]

The Romance counterparts are Galician cánabo, Catalan cànem, French chanvre, Italian canapa and Romanian cânepă.^[1][13] Portuguese also has the learned doublets canábis and cânave.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record, from the 15th century and spelt canamo, comes from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese and is given without its text.^[2] Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 translates canamo with Latin canabis, and Morais (1789) defines it as a plant from which cordage is made.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word names the plant and its fibre: Vieira (1871) describes a plant that gives a coarse linen used for ropes, and argued that the word should be spelt with a double n.^[12] The name was then given to several other plants that give textile fibres, such as cânhamo-brasileiro.^[17][8] At sea it is the natural fibre of the ropes used on board.^[2]

The plant is also the source of marijuana and hashish, and the DLP and Priberam give the drug as a sense of the word; in Brazilian slang it is marijuana of good quality.^[2][11][18]

Timeline

• 1170 – first record of the Spanish word.^[2][9]
• 1400s – first record in Portuguese, spelt canamo and canano.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates canamo as Latin canabis.^[3]
• 1789 – Morais heads the word canamo.^[4]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira heads it cânhamo.^[12]
• 1899 – Figueiredo lists both cânhamo and cânamo.^[19][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. hemp, the plant Cannabis sativa, grown for its fibre and the oil of its seeds.^{[2][6][11][1]}
2. The fibre, thread or cloth made from hemp.^[2][6][18]
3. (nautical) The natural fibre used for ships' ropes.^[2]
4. The name of various other plants that give textile fibres.^[2][6][8]
5. The seed of hemp.^[11][7]
6. The narcotic drug obtained from the plant; maconha, marijuana.^[11][18]
7. (Brazil, slang) Marijuana of good quality.^[2]

Related words

• canábis
• cânave
• Latin cannabis
• Spanish cáñamo

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cânhamo
3. ^ a b c Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. canamo
4. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 223
5. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. cânamo
6. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. cânhamo
7. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1742
8. ^ a b c Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. cânhamo
9. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 824
10. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. cânhamo
12. ^ a b c Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 2, 74
13. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1599
14. ^ 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, p. s.v. κάνναβις
15. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. κάνναβις
16. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. chanvre
17. ^ Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. cânhamo
18. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. cânhamo
19. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. cânhamo