Hemp is one crop that has been present for many years in Ireland. A number of groups affected this country’s practices in agriculture. These might have included migrants such as the Celts, Romano-British Christians, Norse-Vikings, and Anglo-Normans.
Research about hemp history
Researchers combined a number of techniques to identify who brought hemp to Ireland originally. These techniques include written records, archaeological evidence, historical linguistics, and fossil pollen studies (FPSs). Digital resources and citation tracking were necessary to gather data. Linguistic methods were useful to separate cognates from loanwords. Loanwords are just vocabulary fragments added to a language to expand its vocabulary. On the contrary, words that are cognate are connected genetically because they have a similar ancestry.
According to the findings, Celtic languages’ terms for “hemp” are loanwords rather than cognates. While Old Breton coarcholion first appears in manuscripts from the 9th century, the Irish term for hemp, cnáib, first appears in texts from 1060 to 1134 CE. In FPSs from the Middle Ages, beginning around 700 CE, pollen associated with planted Cannabis is found at locations close to monasteries. Researchers discovered hemp seeds and fiber in archeological artifacts from later Norse-Viking and Anglo-Norman locations.
The lack of “hemp” cognates in Proto-Celtic suggests that people of the Hallstatt Culture in Central Europe, who have been speakers of the language, did not cultivate hemp. The fact that the word “cnáib” does not appear in Old Irish glossaries, epics, or mythologies from 600 to 900 CE provides more evidence that it was not first used in Ireland.
Who introduced hemp to Ireland?
According to FPS data, hemp farming probably started in Ireland around the time that Romano-British monasteries occured. Irish cnáib may have been derived from Clerical Latin canapis or canabus.
In conclusion, there is a fact that the history of hemp production in Ireland is unknown. However, it is clear that the crop has been a component of Irish agriculture for many years. It has also occured thanks to numerous groups over the years. Understanding the development of hemp can help better understand the social, economic, and cultural norms of earlier societies. Learning from the past can or other countries can help in adjusting current norms and legislations.