Fimble

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. A male hemp plant, the non-seed-bearing kind of Cannabis that was grown for its fibre in earlier centuries
2. The barren male form of the hemp plant, traditionally valued for the strong fibre of its stalks rather than its seeds
3. An older name for the male hemp plant, cultivated mainly for the textile fibre drawn from its stems

Etymology: "Fimble" is a dialect variant of "fumble," and its earliest roots lie in the Low Countries. Middle Dutch had "fimelen," meaning to tease or work at flax, hemp or wool, and also to move quickly or fiddle with something. The same family is found in Middle Low German "fimmelen," German "fimmeln" (to grope), and West Frisian "fimelje," all carrying the sense of handling something with busy, uncertain fingers. English took that fidgeting, groping idea and kept it in regional speech, where it survived as a near-twin of the standard "fumble." The Dutch noun "femele" or "fimele," used for a kind of short-stemmed cannabis, has a rival explanation. Some suggest it comes from French "femelle" (female), applied to the smaller male hemp plant because it was thought to be female. That would mirror the older English name "carl-hemp" ("man-hemp") for the larger female plant, which reverses the usual logic of the labels.