GOOD HEALTH IS OUR WEALTH
|
|
ETYMOLOGY
The word "pepper" has its roots in the Dravidian word for long pepper, pippali.Ancient Greek and Latin turned pippali into the Latin piper, which was used by the Romans to refer both to black pepper and long pepper, as the Romans erroneously believed that both of these spices were derived from the same plant. Today's "pepper" derives from the Old English pipor. The Latin word isalso the source of Romanian piper,Italian peper, Dutch peper, German Pfeffer, French poivre, and other similar forms.
In the 16th century, pepper started referring to the unrelated New World chili pepper as well. "Pepper" was used in a figurative sense to mean "spirit" or "energy" at least as far back as the 1840s; in the early 20th century, this was shortened to pep. In Hindi, it is called "kaali mirch" (black chilli/pepper), "kuru mulagu" (seed chilli/pepper) and "nalla mulagu" (good chilli/pepper)in Malayalam and in Tulu, it is called "edde munchi" (good chilli/pepper).
Black pepper, along with other spices from Southern and Southeast Asia and lands farther east, changed the
course of world history.It was in some part the preciousness of these spices that led to the Portuguese efforts to find a sea route to China during the age of discovery and consequently to the Portuguese colonial occupationof that country, as well as the European discovery and colonization of the Americas.
The word "pepper" has its roots in the Dravidian word for long pepper, pippali.Ancient Greek and Latin turned pippali into the Latin piper, which was used by the Romans to refer both to black pepper and long pepper, as the Romans erroneously believed that both of these spices were derived from the same plant. Today's "pepper" derives from the Old English pipor. The Latin word isalso the source of Romanian piper,Italian peper, Dutch peper, German Pfeffer, French poivre, and other similar forms.
In the 16th century, pepper started referring to the unrelated New World chili pepper as well. "Pepper" was used in a figurative sense to mean "spirit" or "energy" at least as far back as the 1840s; in the early 20th century, this was shortened to pep. In Hindi, it is called "kaali mirch" (black chilli/pepper), "kuru mulagu" (seed chilli/pepper) and "nalla mulagu" (good chilli/pepper)in Malayalam and in Tulu, it is called "edde munchi" (good chilli/pepper).
Black pepper, along with other spices from Southern and Southeast Asia and lands farther east, changed the
course of world history.It was in some part the preciousness of these spices that led to the Portuguese efforts to find a sea route to China during the age of discovery and consequently to the Portuguese colonial occupationof that country, as well as the European discovery and colonization of the Americas.
|
Click to set custom HTML
|