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

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

. Its usage in English dates to before 1689.

Etymology

''Ganja'' is borrowed from

Hindi/Urdu Hindustani (; Devanagari: , * * * * ; Perso-Arabic: , , ) is the '' lingua franca'' of Northern and Central India and Pakistan. Hindustani is a pluricentric language with two standard registers, known as Hindi and Urdu. Thus, the lan ...

( hi, गांजा, links=no, ur, , links=no, IPA: �aːɲd͡ʒaː, a name for cannabis, which is derived from Sanskrit , referring to a "powerful preparation from '' Cannabis sativa''". The word was used in Europe as early as 1856, when the British enacted a tax on the "ganja" trade. 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.

Contemporary use of the term ''ganja''

English use

''Ganja'' is the most common term for

in West Indies.

In popular culture

In 1975,

Peter Tosh Winston Hubert McIntosh, OM (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 the Wailers (1963� ...

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

Cypress Hill Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. They have sold over 20 million albums worldwide and have multi-platinum and platinum albums. They are considered to be among the main progenitors of West Coast and 1990 ...

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 (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

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

In other languages

Derivatives of the term are also used as generic words for marijuana in several language, such as Khmer (, ''kanhchhea''), Lao (, ''kan sa'') and Tiwi ().Dictionary
AuSIL

References

Cannabis Cannabis culture English words Etymologies {{cannabis-stub