This interest eventually led her to enroll as a student of literature and philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities in the University of Warsaw, graduating with a degree in anthropology in 1935.
Based on similar words in cognate languages (Sanskrit śana, Assyrian qunnabu, Persian kenab, Arabic kanab), Benet proposed that the Biblical plants or spices "kaneh" (Ez.
Benet further claimed that the Scythians, who were described by Herodotus as ritual hemp users in the fifth century B.C., were at least one millennium older than has been previously assumed.
Celsius (Hierobotanicon) has suggested sweet flag (Acorus calamus), which grows in Egypt, Judaea, and Syria, containing in its stalk a soft white pith with an agreeable aromatic smell, and forming an ingredient of the richest perfumes.
[4] According to Boissier (Flora Orientalis), "kaneh" was the common marsh reed, Arundo donax L.[5] Some biblical scholars and botanists believe that the qaneh is probably sugarcane.