Today, most people think they know what “hemp” is. They will point out that it has become everything from textiles, paper and building materials to foods, CBD oil and medicines.

Depending on set and setting, their perceptions can be both right and wrong, and sometimes even misleading. “Hemp” as an English term has equivalents in many languages, all originally denoting fiber products derived from the Cannabis plant. It comes from the Old English word henep and is of Germanic origin, related to both Dutch hennep and German hanf.

The primary definition of “hemp” in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes an Asian herb cultivated for its fiber and seed, as well as the fiber itself, and lastly as marijuana and hashish. British use of “hemp” is more encompassing, and the Oxford English Dictionary defines “hemp” as a term for the Cannabis plant especially when grown for fiber, as well as a name for other fiber plants, and as a term for “drug cannabis,” such as Indian hemp or hemp drugs.

In Europe, psychoactive Cannabis varieties were not traditionally associated with “hemp” medicines, which historically were derived only from hemp fibers and seeds. The fibers were considered to relieve pain and heal wounds, and the seeds also had healing effects. As historians, we’re opposed to mixing traditional terms with modern ones because they may no longer be correctly used.

Still, we need terms for everything, and those associated with products of the Cannabis plant continue to change as they gain new and different meanings. Maltese physician and educator Edward de Bono (1933-2021) summarized this predicament: “In a sense, words are encyclopedias of ignorance because they freeze perceptions at one moment in history and then insist we continue to use these frozen perceptions when we should be doing better.”

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