Words possibly from Akkadian origin
Qaneh-Bosm possible mistranslation?
First of all, Greek κάνναβις, κάνναβος has no etymological relationship with קנה־בשׂם. Second, there is no evidence of קנה־בשׂם was a fixed expression. It occurs only in a single context in Exodus 30:23 where בשם and בשמים "spices, fragrances" occur a number of times with other aromatic compounds (such as myrrh and cinnamon). There is a similar expression with a different adjective קנה הטוב in Jeremiah 6:20, where it refers to an aromatic compound (the adjective haṭṭob here is a cognate with Arabic ṭīb "fragrant smell" and ṭayyib "sweet, perfumed" and Akkadian ṭābu "sweet, sweetened" as in sweetened wine) used in the Temple incense, as it is compared to frankincense. So קנה may be modified by a number of different adjectives to distinguish the aromatic or sweet-tasting קנה from other kinds of קנה. The word קנה refers to stalky reeds and rushes (which are grasses or monocots), and otherwise has no connection with flowering eudicots like Cannabaceae. It thus has derivatives referring to products made from reeds (cf. Exodus 25:31, Isaiah 46:6, Ezekiel 40:3, 42:16). The word קנה is not a foreign loanword and goes back to Proto-Semitic with cognates in Ethiopic (such as qanōt "goad"). The normal reading of the text is that קנה־בשׂם is a kind of reed, distinguished from other kind of reeds by its sweet taste or aromatic odor.
Indeed there were ancient loanwords of Scythian kanap "cannabis" (the source of Greek κάνναβις, κάνναβος) in the Near East. These included Assyrian qunnapu, Aramaic qanpɑʾ, and Arabic qinnab. Notice that all of these include a bilabial plosive, which occur in all other loanwords in Greek, Albanian, Armenian, Germanic, Balto-Slavic, and Finno-Ugric. The expected Hebrew form of the loanword would be קנף, not קנה. Note also that all these other Semitic forms of the word lack a final sibilant which is found in Mishnaic קנבוס, which points to the Hebrew word being a recent loan from Greek and not related to the earlier borrowings of kanap into Semitic.
The fact remains that the LXX gives the oldest interpretation of the phrase קנה־בשׂם in Exodus 30:23 as καλάμου εὐώδους (fragrant calamus) and Josephus (Antiquities 3.197) similarly wrote that the priestly ointment was made from myrrh, iris, cinnamon, and calamus. I don't know how accurate this translation is, but it is in the right ballpark as calamus was a reedy and fragrant plant. It was also an ingredient to the Egyptian medicinal compound called kꜣp.t or κυ̑φι in Greek which was used either as a salve or burned as incense in temple worship. The recipes of kyphi in Galen, Plutarch, and Egyptian writings mention sweet flag or calamus as an ingredient, and Israelite preparations may have been influenced by Egyptian ones.
More on reddit.comIs there a documented relationship between the hindi word for happiness and cannabis, or is it simply a coincidence?
Proto-Germanic *xanapiz "hemp" | WordReference Forums
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Here are some words which POSSIBLY could be derived from the very old Akkadian language. Paradise: Pardesu (garden, park) Hemp, Cannabis: qunnabu Sparrow: Sibaru Cotton: Qutnu Turn, return: Taru, Turru a Cane: Qanu Sesame: shamshamu The name Susana: shushanu (Lily) Rapid: Rapadu ( to run ) http://www.assyrianlanguages.org/akkadian/list.php
So in Hindi, to be Kush means to be Happy. It is also the name of a mountain range.
In English, Kush is slang for Cannabis.
I’m wondering if the origins of these terms (the mountain range, the cannabis, and the mood) have some kind of relationship.
I’d tack on the possibility of it being where the phrase “Getting High” comes from since mountains have high altitudes, but that seems like a bit of an unnecessary stretch.
(To answer the question I’m sure you have for me, the answer is no, I’m sober.)
I saw these wall panels at the British Natural History Museum and thought that the leaf pattern was remarkably similar to that of cannabis. What is the consensus?
Here's an artist's rendition to help. The Tree of Life shows the same pattern of thin splayed leaves.
edit: another pic here.
Hello fellow academics, I have recently been seeing some interesting developments in the cannabis sector regarding the rendering of “kaneh bosm” in Hebrew text, but have trouble locating any other scholars in agreement on this matter. Does anyone know, have any experience, or resources on this subject and who today might be an authority on the matter of this? So far, everything I’m finding in biblical scholarship seems to prefer the “fragrant reed” translation of this, and next to nothing about it referring to cannabis.