Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>]

On 19/05/2006 22:33, Jimmy Doyle wrote:
> Well everyone...lol...what are your thoughts on this
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sula_Benet.
>
> A student came in and gave me several links refering (reefer-ing?) to this
> etymological work.  The pages were filled with statements like "it doesn't
> take much of a leap to understand that Kaneh Bos [sp] is cannabis."
>   

There is more of this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis and 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_%28spiritual_use%29. But then what 
would you expect from an encyclopedia which can be edited by anyone to 
include their own way out theories. The theory also gets a mention by 
the BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2633187.stm, but only in a 
quote. I like the final quote in that article: "Well, the Bible does say 
that St. Stephen was stoned... but perhaps not in that sense!"

A probably more reliable source is 
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=cannabis, according to which 
"cannabis" is "a Scythian or Thracian word". See also 
http://ralphriver.blogspot.com/2006/03/pot-in-bible.html.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/