this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2025
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Marijuana is a Spanish word though. WTH are you guys talking about?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marijuana_(word)
From your source, wikipedia:
Harry Anslinger popularized a Spanish slang word in the 1930s from a Nahuatl word, while campaigning against Cannabis
So Marihuana existed as a slang word in Mexican Spanish before the 1930s (it's in the song La cucaracha)
But your source also says the word could be of Chinese origin...
The etymology that was in question there in your excerpt was that it came from indigenous word Nahautl mallihuan. But the only suggestion of this is from a biased source. In other words it is unlikely that the word predates Spanish in Mexico. I didn't claim that. I said that the word comes from Mexican Spanish.
If you kept reading, you would see:
Also, btw, I'm not arguing in favor of the supposed translation of the tattoo, I'm just not pretending that Spanish speakers don't call it Marijuana when the word is originally Spanish and they definitely still do call it that. Name me a word in English that isn't borrowed from Spanish that has a J that sounds like an H. Jalapeño, Mojito, Jicama... all Spanish words originally. Same with Marijuana.
Yeah seems like you're right and there is Spanish language origin, or it was adopted into Spanish from another language. But it seems to have been slang and not a commonly used word.
My theory also falls apart because mara Salvatrucha was formed in los Angeles where they would have access to Mexican Spanish. I thought they started in El Salvador