''Ganja'' (, ; ) is one of the oldest and most commonly used synonyms for

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

flower, specifically

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

hashish Hashish (; ), usually abbreviated as hash, is a Compression (physics), compressed form of resin (trichomes) derived from the cannabis flowers. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Lisbon, As a Psychoactive drug, psychoactive ...

. Its usage in English dates to before 1689.

Etymology

''Ganja'' is borrowed from

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

(, IPA: �aːɲd͡ʒaː, a name for

in the Indo-Aryan language that descended from an early form of Vedic Sanskrit. The

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

refers to a "powerful preparation from ''

Cannabis sativa ''Cannabis sativa'' is an annual Herbaceous plant, herbaceous flowering plant. The species was first classified by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. The specific epithet ''Sativum, sativa'' means 'cultivated'. Indigenous to East Asia, Eastern Asia, the pla ...

''". But the word only refers to a certain product derived from cannabis plants. ''Gāñjā'' is the title given to the flowers, whereas “''charas''” refers to the resin, and “''bhang''” the seeds and leaves. The word ganja reached the Western world through victims of slavery. Victims of the Atlantic slave trade were brought from Africa to Jamaica in 1513. In 1845, the British Empire started to call for indentured Indians to come to the Caribbean to strengthen the workforce on sugar plantations. They brought with them elements of their culture, including ganja. One academic source places the date of introduction of ganja in Jamaica at 1845. The term came with 19th century workers whose descendants are now known as Indo-Jamaicans. The word was used in Europe as early as 1856, when the British enacted a tax on the "ganja" trade. In 1913, Jamaica banned cannabis with the Ganja Law.

Contemporary use of the term ''ganja''

English use

''Ganja'' is the most common term for marijuana in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

brought by the Indian indentured laborers.

In popular culture

Cultural figureheads such as

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive voca ...

popularized Rastafari and ganja through reggae music. In 1976,

Peter Tosh Winston Hubert McIntosh (19 October 1944 – 11 September 1987), professionally known as Peter Tosh, was a Jamaican reggae musician. Along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, he was one of the core members of the band Bob Marley and the Wa ...

defended the use of ganja in the song " Legalize It". The

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

group

Cypress Hill Cypress Hill is an American Hip hop music, hip hop group formed in South Gate, California in 1988. One of the first Latin groups to gain mainstream recognition in hip hop, they have sold over 20 million albums worldwide, and have obtained multi ...

revived the term in the United States in 2004 in a song titled "Ganja Bus", followed by other artists, including rapper

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

, in the 2009 song "Must Be the Ganja".

In other languages

Derivatives of the term are used as generic words for marijuana in several languages, such as Indonesian/ Malay (), Khmer (, ), Lao (, ), Thai (, ), Tiwi (),Dictionary
AuSIL and Vietnamese ().

References

{{Cannabis, state=collapsed Cannabis Cannabis culture English words Etymologies