Marijuana (word)

File:Cannabis sativa2.jpg

Cannabis sativa

"Marijuana" or "marihuana", etc., is a name for the cannabis plant and more specifically a drug preparation from it. Marijuana as a term varies in usage, definition and legal application around the world. Some jurisdictions define "marijuana" as the whole cannabis plant or any part of it, while others refer to "marijuana" as a portion of the Cannabis plant that containing high levels of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The form "marihuana" is first attested in Mexican Spanish; it then spread to other varieties of Spanish and to English, French, and other languages.

Etymology

The term, originally spelled variously as "marihuana", "mariguana", etc., originated in Mexican Spanish.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it may come from the Nahuatl mallihuan, meaning "prisoner". Author Martin Booth notes that this etymology was popularized by Harry J. Anslinger in the 1930s, during his campaigns against the drug. However, linguist Jason D. Haugen finds no semantic basis for a connection to mallihuan, suggesting that the phonetic similarity may be "a case of accidental homophony". Cannabis is not known to have been present in the Americas, before Spanish contact, making an indigenous word an unlikely source.

Other suggestions trace the possible origins of the word to Chinese ma ren hua "hemp seed flower", possibly itself originating as a loan from an earlier semitic root *mrj "hemp". The Semitic root is also found in the Spanish word mejorana and in English marjoram (oregano), which could be related to the word marihuana, which is also known in Mexico as "Chinese oregano".

Additionally, traditional association with the personal name María Juana ("Mary Jane") is probably a folk etymology. The original Mexican Spanish used forms with the letter 'h' (marihuana). Forms using the letter 'j' (marijuana) seem to be an innovation of English, though they later appeared in French and in Spanish, probably due to English influence.

English use

The word entered English usage in the late 19th century. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first known appearance of a form of the word in English is in Hubert Howe Bancroft's 1873 The Native Races of the Pacific States of North America. Other early variants include "mariguan" (1894), "marihuma" first recorded in 1905, "marihuano" in 1912, and "marahuana" in 1914. Through the early 20th century, however, both the drug and the plant were more commonly known as "cannabis" or "hemp". "Marihuana"'s currency in American English increased dramatically in the 1930s, when it was preferred as an exotic-sounding alternative name during the debates of the drug's use. It has been suggested that it was promoted by opponents of the drug, who wanted to stigmatize it with a "foreign-sounding name". The word was codified into law and became part of common American English with the passing of the 1937 Marihuana tax act.

For research and statistical data "marijuana" generally refers specifically to the dried leaves and flowering tops or "herbal cannabis". Many legal references prefer the term "cannabis", for instance in the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. However, many laws and regulations often use the term "marihuana" or "marijuana", for instance the Controlled Substances Act in the United States and the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations in Canada. Cannabis reform organizations, such as the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and Marijuana Policy Project, alongside political organizations like Help End Marijuana Prohibition Party of Australia and the Marijuana Party of Canada, also use this term.

See also

• Cannabis (etymology)
• Hemp

External links

• The Mysterious Origins of the Word 'Marijuana', Alan Piper, Sino-Platonic Papers 153, 2005.