hemp | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

27 entries found.

Old English hænep "hemp, cannabis sativa," from Proto-Germanic *hanapiz (source also of Old Saxon hanap, Old Norse hampr, Old High German hanaf, German Hanf), probably a very early Germanic borrowing of the same Scythian word that became Greek kannabis (see cannabis). As the name of the fiber made from the plant, by c. 1300. Slang sense of "marijuana" dates from 1940s; scientific applications for the narcotic derived from hemp date to 1870.

hempen (adj.)

"made of hemp," late 14c., from hemp + -en (2). In many figurative expressions 15c.-19c. it is in reference to the hangman's noose.

cannabis (n.)

1798, "common hemp," from Cannabis, Modern Latin plant genus named (1728), from Greek kannabis "hemp," a Scythian or Thracian word. Also source of Armenian kanap', Albanian kanep, Russian konoplja, Persian kanab, Lithuanian kanapės "hemp," and English canvas and possibly hemp. In reference to use of the plant parts as an intoxicant, from 1848. Related: Cannabic.

bhang (n.)

"dried leaves of Cannabis Indica," 1590s, from Hindi bhang "narcotic from hemp," from Sanskrit bhangah "hemp," which is perhaps cognate with Russian penika "hemp." The word first appears in Western Europe in Portuguese (1560s). It also was borrowed into Persian (bang) and Arabic (banj).

canvas (n.)

"sturdy cloth made from hemp or flax," mid-14c., from Anglo-French canevaz, Old North French canevach, Old French chanevaz "canvas," literally "made of hemp, hempen," noun use of Vulgar Latin adjective *cannapaceus "made of hemp," from Latin cannabis, from Greek kannabis "hemp," a Scythian or Thracian word (see cannabis).

Latin adjectives in -aceus sometimes were made in Romanic languages into nouns of augmentative or pejorative force. Especially as a surface for oil paintings from c. 1700; hence "an oil painting" (1764).

sail-cloth (n.)

"hemp or cotton canvas used in making ships' sails," c. 1200, from sail (n.) + cloth (n.).

sisal (n.)

1883, short for Sisal hemp or grass (1843), from Sisal, port in Yucatan, from which the rope-making fiber was exported.

neckweed (n.)

old slang for "hemp," 1560s, from it being used for making a hangman's noose; from neck (n.) + weed (n.).

strick (n.)

"handful of broken hemp, jute, flax, etc.," c. 1400, apparently from root of strike (v.). Also as a verb (c. 1400).

gunny (n.1)

1711, Anglo-Indian goney name of a strong, coarse fabric made from jute or hemp, from Hindi goni, from Sanskrit goni "sack." Gunny sack attested by 1862.

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