pepe

Forms

pepe m (usually uncountable, plural pepi)^[1] Old Italian also had pevere, used in the Pataffio and by Redi.^[2][3] This type belongs to the north, the type pepe to the south.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin piper (“pepper”), continued in its nominative form.^{[6][7][8][9][1]} Latin had the word from Ancient Greek πέπερι (péperi, “pepper”), a word of eastern origin;^{[7][10][5][8][11]} Old Indian has Sanskrit पिप्पलि (pippali, “berry, peppercorn”).^{[7][10][5][8][11]} Wiktionary traces the Greek word through Middle Persian to an Indo-Aryan source, ultimately the Sanskrit name of long pepper, itself of unknown origin, perhaps from a Dravidian or other language of India.^[1] Devoto places the source of the Greek word in western India.^[12]

The southern type ⟨pepe⟩ comes from the nominative ⟨piper⟩, while the northern type pevere goes back, like Dalmatian pepro, French poivre, Occitan pebre, Catalan pebre and Spanish pebre, to a Late Latin masculine with the oblique stem ⟨piper-⟩, which the physician Oribasius uses.^[5][4] The LEI sees the same split in cece beside southern Neapolitan cecere.^[13] Further outcomes are Friulian pevar and Logudorese pibere.^[4] The Latin word also passed into Germanic, giving Old High German pfeffar (modern German Pfeffer) and Old English pipor, the ancestor of English pepper, and into Welsh and Basque; Romanian piper is from Modern Greek or Bulgarian.^[7][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Sienese family account book of 1231–1262, where pepe is the spice bought for the kitchen.^[6][14] Before 1292 Bono Giamboni names the plant, saying that pepper grows on the eastern side of the Caucasus, at the start of India.^[6][14][15]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word named both the plant and its dried fruit, sold whole or ground; medieval texts on spices list black, white, long and Ethiopian pepper.^[6][15] Dante compares a small black serpent to a peppercorn (nero come gran di pepe).^[15] Its colour and sharp taste gave names to other things: peperino, a grey volcanic stone flecked like pepper (peperigno before 1537, peperino 1570), from Late Latin piperinus (lapis) in Isidore; peperone, the sweet pepper (before 1735); and menta peperita, peppermint (1813).^[6][2][7]

The figurative sense of liveliness and spirit grew from the sharp taste: pepato, first “seasoned with pepper” (1618), meant “sharp, biting” from 1888.^[6][3] The pepper pot is pepaiola, recorded in the Medieval Latin of Verona as pevrarola in 1407.^[6] Many plants of other families are called pepe for their peppery fruit, such as pepe della Giamaica (allspice) and pepe di Caienna (cayenne).^[3][8] In southern Italy pepe itself has given way to learned forms of spezie, while Calabrian and Sicilian pipi names the sweet pepper.^[5]

Timeline

• 1231–1262 – Pepe “pepper” appears in the accounts of a Sienese family.^[6]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the word for the pepper plant.^[6]
• 1407 – Medieval Latin pevrarola “pepper pot” is recorded at Verona.^[6]
• Before 1537 – Biringuccio writes peperigno for the grey stone later called peperino.^[6]
• 1598 – Impepare “to pepper” is recorded.^[7]
• 1618 – Pepato “peppered” appears in Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger.^[6]
• Before 1735 – Peperone is first recorded, in Forteguerri.^[6]
• 1888 – Pepato is used figuratively for sharp, biting liveliness.^[6]
• 1920 – The verb pepare appears, in Thovez.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. pepper, the hot, aromatic spice made from the dried berries of the pepper plant, whole or ground: una bistecca con sale e pepe.^[8][3][16]
2. (botany) The climbing shrub Piper nigrum and other plants of the pepper family, piperacee, that yield the spice; with a capital, the genus Piper.^[8][17][18]
3. (botany) Any of several plants of other families whose fruit tastes or smells like pepper: pepe di Caienna, pepe rosa.^[8][3][17]
4. (figurative) Liveliness, spirit, brio; also sharp wit or spice in speech: essere tutto pepe.^[3][16][9]
5. In pepe e sale or sale e pepe, a speckled grey colour like pepper mixed with salt;^[3][16][9] capelli sale e pepe, greying hair.^[3][16][9]

Word family

• pepare
• pepato
• pepaiola
• peperone
• peperino
• peperita
• peperonata
• impepare
• peposo

Related words

• spezia
• Latin piper
• French poivre

Usage notes

Non sapere né di sale né di pepe means “to be dull, insipid”, and the vulgar avere il pepe al culo is said of a restless person.^[3][16] The old form pevere is marked obsolete in modern dictionaries.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 760
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2842
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
10. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
11. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
14. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
15. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
18. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse