Kaneh-bosem

[mingshey]

A trivial question(actually, two questions) for who speaks or knows Hebrew quite much. I'm curious because modern Hebrew is said to be a rebuilt language.
Modern Hebrew-English dictionary has Kaneh-bos as hemp. And there's a web site that says the Kaneh-bosem in Ex. 30:22-33, an ingredient of the anointing oil, is hemp.(and that cannabis is derivative from kaneh-bos) Is it true that the occurrence of Kaneh-bosem in the OT is the hemp plant? Traditional translations (from LXX down to modern translation) has it as calamus. If it's not, then why it is used for hemp in modern Hebrew?

[Kalailan]

I was pretty surprised to see Kaneh-bosem as a topic here...

well, it seems like the site you linked to answers it, though some people think this and some people think that.
it's not such a trivial question... no one here talks about it much.

i think it's likely that it is true that kaneh bosem is hemp.
how otherwise would there be so many prophets?

and my dictionary (hebrew-hebrew) doesn't say what it is. it just says it's some plant from the bible, and says it is also called "kaneh-tov", which means good reed.
those ancient hebrew knew whats good, hey?

[mingshey]

Well I want to keep it only as a question about the etymology. I don't want it to be expanded into discussion on drugs, anyway.

As for my reference, I have two pocket-sized hebrew-engglish/english-hebrew dictionaries. I'll have to check out my book-shelves for exact reference. But I could find one of them on amazon.com:
http://www.textkit.com/support-textkit/ ... le-us.html

Other dictionaries could say different things, of course.

[mingshey]

I've checked my dictionaries.
Dr. Reuven Sivan and Dr. Edward A. Levenston, "The New Bantam-Megiddo Hebrew
& English Dictionary"

kannaBOS (Qaf,Nun,Beyth, Waw,Samek; Nun and Beyth have dagesh, i.e. a dot in the character)

Dov Ben-Abba, "The Signet Hebrew/English English/Hebrew Dictionary"

kanaBOS (Qaf,Nun,Beyth, Waw,Samek; Beyth has a dagesh)

Judging from the spellings, I think this can be a backward loan word from European languages borrowed when reconstructing the modern Hebrew language. And one of my English dictionary puts the etymology like this:

hemp [Middle English < Old English haenep(akin to German hanf, Dutch hennep) < Proto Germanic hanapa- < kanab- a Pre-Germanic borrowing < a(?Scythian) base, whence Greek (he) kannabis akin ? to Sumerian kunubu, hemp]
-Webster's New World dictionary of the American Language-

Meanwhile, there's this argument as well:
http://www.maps.org/forum/2001/msg00464.html

[mingshey]

Since my english dictionary related the etymology far back to Sumerian origin, I googled with kunubu and found this article:

http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pot ... -2300.html

Rare spices, incenses and herbs were commodities for trade on the ancient spice trail and not always being available locally, such as things like water or wheat which generally have local dialect names, more precious items often retained the foreign name with which they came. Thus it is not surprising to learn that "canna" related words occurred in Mesopotamia through the Assyrian and Babylonian language names such as "kenab'" "kunubu" and even the Hebrew "kaneh" and the slightly more descriptive "kaneh bosem" meaning fragrant cane.

Such ancient trade routes not only account for the spread of cannabis, and variations of it's name, but because storytellers often accompanied the caravans that followed this path, this also accounts for the many of the similarities in religious myth that occur throughout the ancient world.

It is here in Mesopotamia that the genesis tale of Eden is thought to have originated. Historians and mythologists point to myths of the crafty god known variously as Ea, Enki, Oannes and Dagon, and depicted as a fish man or serpent man, along with his paradisal garden of Dilmun and the "kisakanu tree" or "plant of life" located in its center as an earlier more positive version of the serpent of Eden and the forbidden trees. Interestingly the term kisakanu in reference to Ea sacred tree, contains the term "kanu'" it's similarity to the later Assyrian name of cannabis "Kenab" indicate it is quite obviously derived from the sameancient root for cannabis "canna". The use of the kiskanu tree for fiber, incense and in ritual anointing give clear indications as to it's botanical origins

P.S.
The Sumerian is said to be qunibu in the dictionary and my mis-reading led me to find the Babylonian qunubu

[rimon-jad]

This seems interesting.
Latin cannabis origins in Greek kannabis. Hebrew root is qaneh.
Its origin is the Old Babylonian word qanum. Logogram for qanum is GI, no. 85.
It looks like this:

It does look like reed or cane or some kind of plant.
What boshem means is a question. I think Alexandrian Jews didn´t know the meaning of qaneh-boshem. They translated it simply sweet-smelling reed.
That´s what i know so far.

[mingshey]

Oh, thanks!
I was just going to be curious about its cuneiform sign!
I could find qanum(reed, arrow, a unit of length(circa 3 m)) in the glossary of my Akkadian grammar book, but didn't know how to browse the sign list.

Er, there is the alphabetical cross index for the sign list. and in my book the logogram has additional four short horizontal strokes arranged vertically to the left of what you have shown.

Another interesting nick name for hemp that is mentioned in the previous quote is YAGRAT HADEVASH in 1Sam 14:26-27, which is also mistranslated as honeycomb in LXX and other translations. but it's literal translation should be "honey bush".
and the account that mere taste of it gave Jonathan's eye an enlightenment and that there was no bee around the "honeycomb" is suggesting it was a hemp bush with flowing hashish in the day's heat.

[Kalailan]

Bosem means perfume, and i don't see a reason why Alexandrian jews wouldn't know it.
by the way, though it's spelled Beit Shin Mem it is pronounced Bosem, and not as Rimon-jad Transliterated it.
now the question is did hemp really grow in ancient israel?
what climate does it require and what was the climate at that time?
i think if these figures will mach, the answer is found.

[rimon-jad]

I meant, what does it mean in old babylonian.

In 1980 the Hebrew University in Israel confirmed Benet's identification of Kaneh-Bosm as hemp

that´s from pot-tv. are you able to verify it, please?

If the LXX translators knew what is qaneh-bosem, why would they use literal "fragrant reed" ? the septuagint isn´t the best hebrew-greek translation. what is [size=150]καλαμος ευωδης [/size]?
maybe people didn´t smoke pot in Egypt.

[mingshey]

The pot-tv articles can be biased in pro-hemp propaganda. So I believe it with only about 50 %'s probability.

In 1980 the Hebrew University in Israel confirmed Benet's identification of Kaneh-Bosm as hemp

that´s from pot-tv. are you able to verify it, please?

This phrase, too, is obscure that it doesn't say who in the Hebrew Univ. confirmed it, neither does it give an exact reference.

The prescription for the anointing oil was not for anybody curious. It was strictly banned for anyone except the priests to make it at will. There was a capital punishment waiting for such an attempt.
So it's possible that the learned class thought that it was better to keep it as secret as possible amongst them, and if there be any need for translation, that it was better to keep it as obscure as possible than to broadcast the secret recipe to the "whole world".

[rimon-jad]

I agree.
Scyths really inhalated cannabis smoke. this practice was common widely, from Iran to Siberia. but it´s probable that greeks didn´t know "the magic" of hemp plant. that´s also why alexandrian jews didn´t know what exactly is qaneh-bosem. it would be interesting to know, how did aquilla, symachus or theodotion translated it. this deserves a serious study.
BTW, calamus also contains psycho-active chemicals. larger amount of this plant has an effect similar to that of LSD, but i didn´t try it.

[mingshey]

BTW, calamus also contains psycho-active chemicals. larger amount of this plant has an effect similar to that of LSD, but i didn´t try it.

Really? But is it likely that its hallucinogenic effects be known to the greeks or hebrews then?

[rimon-jad]

i don´t know... yet.
so stay tuned!

[rimon-jad]

psychedelic chemicals calamus contains are asaron and β-asaron. the root of a plant is chewed. eating about two inches of it refreshes, some more makes you walk a meter above the ground level. fife times ten inches effects like LSD. For further info, try Peter Stafford´s enclycopeadia of psychedelics.
Whether israelits chewed it i don´t know, but people in india and china used it as soon as around 100 B.C.

[Chris Bennett]

The pot-tv articles can be biased in pro-hemp propaganda. So I believe it with only about 50 %'s probability.

In 1980 the Hebrew University in Israel confirmed Benet's identification of Kaneh-Bosm as hemp

that´s from pot-tv. are you able to verify it, please?

This phrase, too, is obscure that it doesn't say who in the Hebrew Univ. confirmed it, neither does it give an exact reference.

The prescription for the anointing oil was not for anybody curious. It was strictly banned for anyone except the priests to make it at will. There was a capital punishment waiting for such an attempt.
So it's possible that the learned class thought that it was better to keep it as secret as possible amongst them, and if there be any need for translation, that it was better to keep it as obscure as possible than to broadcast the secret recipe to the "whole world".

High all!
My name is Chris Bennett, I am the manager of the forementioned Pot TV, and the author of Sex, Drugs, Violence and the Bible and various articles on cannabis in the bible and other religions. I've been enjoying this thread and thought I would "pipe" in.
First off, the 1980 Hebrew university confirmation is iffy, and I won't use it again unless I can get better verification. My source was a 1980 article written by Dean Latimer 'Crimes of the Ancient Mariner' which appeaeed in High Times, a magazine Latimer is now one of the editors of. He has never responded to my querries for a better source on this.
However............ Since writing Sex, Drugs, Violence and the Bible and the articles mentioned I have come up with numerous academic sources who agree with benet's 1936 etymological identification of kaneh bosem and kaneh (a variety of spellings are used) being references to cannabis. In 1980 the respected anthropologist Weston La Barre(1980) referred to the Biblical references to kaneh bosem in agreement with Benet in an essay on cannabis. In that same year respected British Journal New Scientist also ran a story that referred to the Hebrew Old Testament references, (Malyon & Henman 1980). A modern counterpart of the word is even listed in Ben Yehudas Pocket Dictionary and other Hebrew source books. Further, on line, the Internet's informative Navigating the Bible, used by countless theological students, even refers to the Exodus 30:23 reference as possibly designating cannabis. More recently reknowned cannabinoid expert and historian Dr. Ethan Russo has concurred with this identification, as have classicist and linguists from Boston Univerisity Prof. Carl Ruck and Prof. Blaise Staples, along with Prof. Benny Shanon of the Hebrew university in Israel, botanist Robert Carnell Clarke and anthropologist Vera Rubin. In fact when an article about the early Christian use of the cannabis based annointing oil for healing and other "miracles" garnered international attention, not one valid criticism came out of the whole thing, and what attempts there were simply strengthened the whole arguement when answers were put forth.

Here are two articles on the early Christian use and the Introduction to my book
http://www.420.com/420site/news/content ... d=2&bid=31
http://www.cannabisculture.com/backissu ... hrist.html
http://www.cannabis.net/articles/jesus-cannabis.html
http://www.forbiddenfruitpublishing.com ... intro.html

The stuff about calamus being psycho-active are pretty iffy and besides the two cases mentioned in Stafford's book, I don't think there are any other reports of people tripping on it. Jonathon Ott disses the whole thing pretty eloquently in his encyclopedic text Pharmacotheon.

The term kaneh bosem is also often more correctly translated as "fragrant cane" which is what the original etymological root of cannabis means.

Although cannabis comes from an Indo European root, and such words are extremely rare in Semetic languages, as an item of trade on the spice trail, kaeh bosem would have retained forms of it's cognate original where ever it went and was introduced. likewise we find the term 'kinnamon" meaning "cinnamon" in Exodus 30 , making it clear that such cognate pronunciations can be traced in a traditionally Indo European language such as English, into a term used in ancient Hebrew.

As for the Indo European origins of the cannabis cult, let us jump from etymology to archeology.......
http://www1.shore.net/~india/ejvs/ejvs0 ... s0901d.txt
I'm intrested on where the Babylonian symbol for qanum came from, did they list this as the symbol for cannabis? Most of the Assyrian references I've seen are translated into Enlish as qunubu, but I've never seen the symbol itself.
Cheers,
Chris Bennett

[mingshey]

It's a nice surprise to meet the author of the source document! * a hand to shake *

I had visited your web site about the relation of Jesus and mari*uana. And the paintings there were more stunning than the article itself!

By the way, refering to "The Golden Bough" of James Frazer and another book of T. Freke and P. Gandy, "The Jesus Mysteries" you find the relation of Christianity and other religions(e.g. Orpheus cult, or Gnosticism, etc.). Do you have any plan to investigate the relation of those religions and the pot?

[Chris Bennett]

It's a nice surprise to meet the author of the source document! * a hand to shake *

I had visited your web site about the relation of Jesus and mari*uana. And the paintings there were more stunning than the article itself!

By the way, refering to "The Golden Bough" of James Frazer and another book of T. Freke and P. Gandy, "The Jesus Mysteries" you find the relation of Christianity and other religions(e.g. Orpheus cult, or Gnosticism, etc.). Do you have any plan to investigate the relation of those religions and the pot?

I deal with the Gnostic's extensively in Sex, Drugs, Violence and the Bible. Orpheus is a figure I've only looked into a little. The worship of Orpheus, like the more mythical Dionysus is believed to have originated in Thracia. Thracian Shaman were known as the Kapnobatai, "Those who walk in smoke", because of their closeness to the Scythians and from comments made by Herodotus, the late Mircea Eliade sugested the smoke, was cannabis smoke. There is of course more to this.............

I have another book Green Gold the Tree of Life: Marijuana in Magic and religion (Access Unlimited 1995) that deals with the global and historical use of cannabis in a religous or magical context.

[mingshey]

A couple of your books has been waiting in the Amazon shopping cart for months. (for now I have no excuse to buy new books when I have too many books that I bought and had no time to read. I had read Golden Bough in the public domain e-text). I'd be more happy to get public domain articles about this subject.

I saw the cuneiform sign of qanum in the appendix of "A Grammar of Akkadian" by John Huehnergard. I was just looking for a sign of which the sound was close enough to qunibu(as one of my english dictionary suggested as the Sumerian etymology). The sign qanum is said to mean a reed, or an arrow. There's no further description that will relate it to a cane(close enough to reed???), or hemp.

[Kopio]

The Hebrew word QANEH appears 62 times in 38 verses in the TaNaK (according to BDB). It occurs ONCE in construct with the word BO$EM....in Ex 30:23!

Hardly enough linguistic evidence to be even close to dogmatic about what this word "really" means. For those of you who haven't read D.A. Carson's Exegetical Fallicies....you should read it....then we can all sit back and chuckle at the number of them commited by people with certain axes to grind!

Most of these other instances of QANEH appear to be the more normative uses of the word, i.e. stalk, reed, calamus, branch, or shoulder.

BO$EM typically means: spice, balsam, perfume, or sweet odour.

BUT....I guess if you put them both together they MUST mean cannabis (tongue firmly planted in cheek)!!

For the record.....I don't think Moses inhaled

Just my two sheckels worth!

[Chris Bennett]

[quote="Kopio"]The Hebrew word QANEH appears 62 times in 38 verses in the TaNaK (according to BDB). It occurs ONCE in construct with the word BO$EM....in Ex 30:23!

Hardly enough linguistic evidence to be even close to dogmatic about what this word "really" means. For those of you who haven't read D.A. Carson's Exegetical Fallicies....you should read it....then we can all sit back and chuckle at the number of them commited by people with certain axes to grind!

Most of these other instances of QANEH appear to be the more normative uses of the word, i.e. stalk, reed, calamus, branch, or shoulder.

BO$EM typically means: spice, balsam, perfume, or sweet odour.

BUT....I guess if you put them both together they MUST mean cannabis (tongue firmly planted in cheek)!!"


Well, although I myself am definately a lover of the fragrant cane, I can hardly take credit for the etymological speculations regarding the herb and I doubt, Sula Benet writing in 1936 at a University in Warsaw was, or Botanist Immanuel Lowe who also noted kaneh bosem and other Hebrew words as references to cannabis. Also, many of the other academics I referred to earlier, are hardly pot-heads with an axe to grind. And you are quite right, the term qaneh, meanining cane, like the original Indo-Europen root "canna" which also means "cane" came to designate a variety of things, including "measure", even conotation of "trade", thus the emphasis of bosem was later added to soley designate the psycho-active and fragrant varieties of the plant. That the term came to designate more than it's origins should really not be so surprising to any person who studies the etymology of words.

Anybody who takes the 6 references refered to in the OT by Sula Benet, and places them in the context of the Biblical storyline well see that these are definately cannabis references. Here is a realplayer lecture lecture I recently gave on the subject at Entheogenesis:
http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pot ... -2467.html


Also, you are not taking into account the similarity of kaneh bosem, or q'aneh bosem , to the Babolynian and Assyrian terms, qunubu, kunubu and the similiar ways in which the plant was used. Remember the progenerator of the Isrealites, Abraham, came from Ur.....

Furthermore, the use of cannabis incense and ointments in the holy land is verified by archeological evidence, as discussed in the articles on the early Christian use I posted links to earlier.

This story is also of interest

Posted by CN Staff on August 07, 2002 at 17:52:00 PT
By Jason Keyser, Associated Press
Source: MSNBC

Jerusalem, A thriving Bronze Age drug trade supplied narcotics to ancient cultures throughout the eastern Mediterranean as balm for the pain of childbirth and disease, proving a sophisticated knowledge of medicines dating back thousands of years, researchers say.

Ancient Ceramic pots, most of them nearly identical in shape and about five inches long, have been found in tombs and settlements throughout the Middle East, dating as far back as 1400 B.C., said Joe Zias, an anthropologist at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.

The drugs were probably used as medicine, and the finds are helping researchers better understand how ancient people treated illness and disease.
“It’s a window to the past that many people are unaware of,” Zias told a recent conference in Israel on DNA and archaeology. “Here’s something used in prehistoric times, and it’s used until today.”

When turned upside down, the thin-necked vessels with round bases resemble opium poppies pods. If there was any doubt about what was inside, the round bases have white markings, designs that symbolized knife cuts made on poppies bulbs so the white opium base can ooze and be harvested, Zias said.

The Mycenaean ceramics were analyzed with a procedure called gas chromatography that turned up traces of opium.

Hundreds of the pots have been found, and they commonly show up in the hands of antiquities dealers in places like Jerusalem’s Old City. “Give me an hour there and I could find you 10 of them,” Zias said.

PAIN RELIEVER

Based on ancient Egyptian medical writings from the 3rd millennium B.C., researchers believe opium and hashish — a smokable drug that comes from the concentrated resin from the flowers of hemp plants — were used during surgery and to treat aches and pains and other ailments. Hashish was also used to ease menstrual cramps and was even offered to women during childbirth.

Based on Egyptian writings, archaeologists believe the opium was eaten rather than smoked.

The drugs are part of a medical record that shows the ancients were far more advanced than most people realize, Zias said, noting evidence that European people did cranial surgery as long as 10,000 years ago, while the Romans left records of 120 surgical procedures.

Mark Spigelman, a Zias colleague at Hebrew University, found one of the poppy-shaped ceramic pots from the middle Bronze Age in Siqqura, a Giza cemetery near the pyramids outside of Cairo during a dig four years ago. The pot, found in an Egyptian grave from the 18th Dynasty, was identical to other pots found throughout ancient Israel and the Middle East.

“These guys were selling opium all over the Middle East,” Spigelman said. “This is the original Medellin cartel, 3,500 years ago,” he said in a joking reference to the violent Colombian cocaine cartel.

It seems more likely, however, that the ancient trade was run by respected healers rather than violent drug lords.

“We know for sure these things were used for medical purposes,” Zias said. “The question is whether they were used for recreational purposes.”

HASHISH AIDED DELIVERY

In an archaeologically rich area of central Israel, Zias found another clue. While excavating a tomb from the late Roman period in the town of Beit Shemesh 10 years ago, he found the skeleton of a 14-year-old girl who died in childbirth around A.D. 390. On her stomach was a fleck of a burnt brownish-black substance.

“I thought it was incense,” Zias said. But when he had it analyzed by police and chemists at Hebrew University, it turned out to be a 7-gram mixture of hashish, dried seeds, fruit and common reeds.

Seven glass vessels containing traces of the drug were found near the skeleton. She probably used them to inhale the smoky cocktail to aid her delivery. Medical researchers have found that other than relaxing the user, hashish increases the force and frequency of contractions in women giving birth; and it was used in deliveries until the 19th century, after which new drugs were developed.

But it didn’t help this girl, who was only 4 feet 6 inches tall. She bled to death.

The drug was an extremely rare find. Organic compounds quickly decay, but because this one had been burned it was carbonized and preserved.

“It’s the first time it’s ever been found in terms of direct evidence in an archaeological dig,” Zias said. “You rarely find direct evidence of drugs in antiquity.”

Note: Opium, hashish traces found on ceramic pots, tomb remains.

Newshawk: Clay L.
Source: MSNBC (US Web)
Author: Jason Keyser, Associated Press
Published: August 6, 2002
Copyright: 2002 MSNBC
Contact: letters@msnbc.com
Website: http://www.msnbc.com/news/

Related Articles:

Historical Research on Drug Policy
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/His ... istory.htm


And then of course Moses spent time in the land of the Pharoahs:

Monday 7th October 2002

Scientists recreate the perfume of the pharaohs

Ananova

Scientists in France say they have recreated the perfume of the pharaohs which they believe was used by the ancient Egyptians to boost their love-lives.

But as the ingredients of Kyphi perfume, said to be an aphrodisiac which helps wearers relax, include cannabis it cannot be commercially produced.

Experts from L'Oreal and C2RMF, the Centre for Research and Restoration of French Museums, succeeded in recreating the legendary Kyphi perfume.

French researcher Sandrine Videault, who for years had attempted to recreate the aroma, was finally able to do so with the help of Greek historiographer Plutarch.

The Greek writer had written that Kyphi had the power "to send someone to sleep, to help them have sweet dreams, to relax them, to drive away the worries of the day and to bring peace."

The numerous ingredients include pistachios, mint, cinnamon, incense, juniper and myrrh.

Videault says all previous attempts to use traces of the perfume found in Egyptian museums had failed because not enough was provided for analysis.

The expert says the recreation of the aroma is a long process because there are many different recipes for it: "In some samples only ten ingredients are used, in others up to 50," she said.

According to written documents the perfume, which came in block form and unlike modern-day scents was not alcohol based, was worn by ancient Egyptians in their hair and in intimate places to boost their sex lives.

But Videault said: "Kyphi will never be sold because some of the ingredients are illegal substances. In any case the smell is probably much too pungent for the modern world."

ananova

For the record.....I don't think Moses inhaled

Ahhh... then do you suppose some sort of discarnate entity that ordered the nomadic Isrealites to invade Canaan, murder the inhabitants and destroy every vestige of their culture? I'd say an ancient desert shaman reacting to the effects from a psycho-active plant and understanding those effects as advice for his tribe, is much more believable. Indeed such relationships still exist in South American and African jungles today, where shamans still ingest psycho-active substances and interpet this as some sort of spiritual quest for knowledge. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Thanks for your input, but you have offered nothing new in way of an arguement.

[rimon-jad]

It´s nice to meet you, Mr. Chris. Especially at this site.
I investigated ALL occurances of -qaneh- in the OT, a month ago.
Here´s a list:

Gen. 41:5, Gen. 41:22, Exod. 25:31, Exod. 25:32, Exod. 25:33, Exod. 25:35, Exod. 25:36, Exod. 30:23, Exod. 37:17, Exod. 37:18, Exod. 37:19, Exod. 37:21, Exod. 37:22, 1 Ki. 14:15, 2 Ki. 18:21, Job 31:22, Job 40:21, Ps. 68:31, Cant. 4:14, Isa. 19:6, Isa. 35:7, Isa. 36:6, Isa. 42:3, Isa. 43:24, Isa. 46:6, Jer. 6:20, Ezek. 27:19, Ezek. 29:6, Ezek. 40:3, Ezek. 40:5, Ezek. 40:6, Ezek. 40:7, Ezek. 40:8, Ezek. 41:8, Ezek. 42:16, Ezek. 42:17, Ezek. 42:18, Ezek. 42:19

, in case anyone´s interested. Refs. not underlined represent various means of measuring, esp. lenght. It is also used figuratively for "measuring" weight.
The underlined ones mean cannabis.
Refs. by Herodotos are:

i.202
iv.74.75

Who is interested may look at those.
And come with something constructive.

[Chris Bennett]

It seems, likely that the term "canon" , as in "official canon" derives from this. Considering this it is also kind of funny to note the roots of the word "Testament", anybody wish to follow that up?