Sara Benetowa, later known as Sula Benet (23 September 1903 – 12 November 1982), was a Polish anthropologist of the 20th century who studied Polish and

Judaic Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the M ...

customs and traditions.

Biography

Born in Warsaw, then part of the Russian Empire, Benet was fascinated with Polish peasant culture from her early youth. This interest eventually led her to enroll as a student of literature and philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities in the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields o ...

, graduating with a degree in

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

in 1935. She then attended graduate school at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, where she received her

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

in 1944. Also at this time (1936) she first made known at a seminar in Warsaw her theory that "calamus" in the Bible is hemp. Benet died in New York in 1982.

Cannabis research

Based on similar words in cognate languages (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

śana, Assyrian qunnabu,

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

kenab,

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

kanab), Benet proposed that the Biblical plants or spices "kaneh" ( Ez. 27:19; Is. 43:24; Ct. 4:14), "kaneh ha-tob" ( Je. 6:20), and "kaneh-bosem" ( Ex. 30:23), which are usually translated as "sweet

calamus Calamus may refer to: Botany and zoology * ''Calamus'' (fish), a genus of fish in the family Sparidae * ''Calamus'' (palm), a genus of rattan palms * Calamus, the hollow shaft of a feather, also known as the quill * '' Acorus calamus'', the swe ...

" or "sweet

cane Cane or caning may refer to: *Walking stick or walking cane, a device used primarily to aid walking * Assistive cane, a walking stick used as a mobility aid for better balance *White cane, a mobility or safety device used by many people who are ...

", were actually hemp. "Kaneh-bosem" was an ingredient of the holy

anointing Anointing is the ritual act of pouring aromatic oil over a person's head or entire body. By extension, the term is also applied to related acts of sprinkling, dousing, or smearing a person or object with any perfumed oil, milk, butter, or ot ...

oil described in Ex. 30:22-25. Benet argued that in many ancient languages, including Hebrew, the root "kan" had a double meaning, both hemp and reed, and that an error originated within the oldest Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible,

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

, in the third century B.C., where the terms "kaneh" and "kaneh-bosem" had been translated as "sweet kalamos". In the many Bible translations that followed, including

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

's, this translation was repeated. Benet further claimed that the

Scythians The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...

, who were described by

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...

as ritual hemp users in the fifth century B.C., were at least one millennium older than has been previously assumed. Sulah Benet's claim has found little support in the academic community among lexicographers and botanists. The standard reference lexicons of Biblical Hebrew, and reference works on Hebrew Bible plants by scholars such as University of Jerusalem botanist

Michael Zohary Michael Zohary ( he, מיכאל זהרי) (born 9 April 1898 in Bóbrka, Galicia (Austria-Hungary); died 16 April 1983 in Israel) was a pioneering Israeli botanist. Biography Michael Schein (later Zohary) was born into a Jewish family in Bóbrk ...

mention Benet's suggestion, while others argue the word refers to an either different species of hemp or a different plant entirely. Celsius (Hierobotanicon) has suggested sweet flag (

Acorus calamus ''Acorus calamus'' (also called sweet flag, sway or muskrat root, among many common names) is a species of flowering plant with psychoactive chemicals. It is a tall wetland monocot of the family Acoraceae, in the genus '' Acorus.'' Although ...

), which grows in Egypt, Judaea, and Syria, containing in its stalk a soft white pith with an agreeable aromatic smell, and forming an ingredient of the richest perfumes. Royle identified the "sweet cane" ( A.V.) of Scripture (Is. 43:24; Je. 6:20) with the Andropogon calamus, a plant extensively cultivated in India, from which an oil, deemed to be the famous

spikenard Spikenard, also called nard, nardin, and muskroot, is a class of aromatic amber-colored essential oil derived from '' Nardostachys jatamansi'', a flowering plant in the honeysuckle family which grows in the Himalayas of Nepal, China, and India ...

of antiquity, is extracted. According to Boissier (Flora Orientalis), "kaneh" was the common marsh reed,

Arundo donax ''Arundo donax'' is a tall perennial cane. It is one of several so-called reed species. It has several common names including giant cane, elephant grass, carrizo, arundo, Spanish cane, Colorado river reed, wild cane, and giant reed. ''Arundo'' a ...

L. Some biblical scholars and botanists believe that the qaneh is probably sugarcane.

Works

* ''Konopie w wierzeniach i zwyczajach ludowych'' (1936) * ''Song, Dance, and Customs of Peasant Poland'' (1951) * ''Festive recipes and festival menus'' (1957) * ''Riddles of many lands'' Carl Withers, Sula Benet (1956) * ''Early Diffusion and Folk Uses of Hemp'' (1967) * ''Abkhasians: the long-living people of the Caucasus'' (1974) * ''How to live to be 100: the life-style of the people of the Caucasus'' (1976)

References

External links

Sula Benet's papers in th
New York University archives

Biography

Cannabis research

Works

References

External links

Further reading