The study of an item or a “thing” is incomplete without a close look at the etymology and onomastics associated with the item, its uses, and origin across different languages and cultures over time and by different people. The article seeks to take a close look at different formal and slang terms or words used to describe cannabis, its users, sub-products, outcomes, and impact and how these continue to evolve.
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants in the family of Cannabises with different levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Cannabis has over 1,200 slang names and over 2,300 names for different strains.
Naming in this article involves using words and language for human communication guided or not by rules and conventions. Agreeably, the many slang and strains names have little to do with the Latin and botanical etymology Cannabis Indica, Ruderalis, or Sativa but rather from rich onomastics and nomenclature of cannabis and its products, users, methods of usage, package and forms for different users in time.
The article allows for a closer look at the naming structure of the cannabis plant is an annual or otherwise. It will look at the vegetable value, fruit, and flower usage as well as the growth habits of the cannabis plant. Cannabis plants can grow wildly or cultivated. Whether wildly grown or not, the name weed is used. The write up consider culture rather than formal naming features of cannabis products and users. The writer opines that product name and slang get influenced by social, political, and religious factors of generations and their diverse languages and their meanings.
The paper looks at the many edible cannabis products prepared from mixture seeds, oils, leaves, and juice, and the how of preparation. You will find information on whether these products are commercially or traditionally prepared and the products’ nomenclature. Cannabis products and their edibles can be consumed in different ways using different body parts explaining the use of different names and slangs of consuming methods. Preparation methods of cannabis products produce dozens of ways depending on many factors. The fluidity of the names and slangs leads to strains that no sooner become reference names.
It’s important to note that these products may attract different names and strains at any point in time and contexts but may mean the same. Names of cannabis product keep changing with time and across generations depending on the cultural dynamics of one society to another. This phenomenon explains the origin of the many names and slangs used. Some of these products get consumed through different body parts and human senses. Some users may prefer to eat or drink, inhale, or bath, and others may opt to used and name these as flowers or vegetation. The products may take the form of solid, liquid, gas, or vapor. All these have different names or slangs with ever-growing strain names and would have different effects on the users described formally by the use of English words or by slang names. The products are packages and presented differently by diverse communities and sub-communities in different parts of the world. There are no standards and detailed specification of packaging for many of the products. Characteristics of users and dosage among the many users are also not defined. This aspect attracts different names and slangs by deferent people at different times and contexts. Lack of standardization measures and specifications of products and users leads to the multiplication of names and slangs in different parts of the world and across generations. Studies on cannabis and its products is a field that has attracted volumes of research and attention. Some cannabis studies employ western approaches leading to scientific taxonomy resulting in scientific classification and naming. Although cannabis studies have attracted many scholars, formal naming has not served as the yardstick in naming. Folk taxonomy has influenced the former explaining the growth of slangs and name strains in the cannabis sector. In folk taxonomy, anybody or a group of people can develop a language and a name. Often this grows into a preferred street name at any point in time. With the evolution of culture, we expect more slang names and their strains in the cannabis cycle the world over cannabis from Green Society .
