Herb

From Latin herba via Old French erbe. Generic in English for centuries, its cannabis-specific use is rooted in 1930s Jamaican Rastafari, where "the herb" or "the holy herb" became a reverential term anchored to Psalms 104:14 ("herb for the service of man"). Internationalized by reggae — Bob Marley, Peter Tosh — in the 1970s. North American hip-hop and wellness-oriented consumers later adopted it to frame cannabis as plant medicine rather than drug. Also rendered as "ishence" in Rasta patois.