peperone

Forms

peperone m (plural peperoni, diminutive peperoncino)^[1]

Etymology

Nocentini takes it as formed from Italian pepe + -one, an augmentative named for the sharp taste of the fruit.^[2][3][4] Sabatini–Coletti sees an infix /r/ between the stem and the suffix.^[5] GRADIT, Devoto–Oli and Treccani derive it straight from Latin piper (“pepper”) with the same suffix.^[3][6][7]

DEI sees it instead as a Tuscan adaptation of the northern word, Piedmontese pevrùn and the Ligurian, Lombard and Emilian pevron, and links these with French poivron, which it dates to 1785.^[8][9] Devoto takes it as a blend of the northern form with the Tuscan word for pepper.^[10] Meyer-Lübke records a southern French form, pebrun, for the pepper pod and for a big red nose.^[11] Before the name, the plant was called “Indian pepper”.^[8]

Latin piper is a loan of Ancient Greek πέπερι (péperi), which came from an Indian source.^[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Niccolò Forteguerri, who died in 1735, for the plant of the nightshade family with edible fruit and for the fruit itself.^[13][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th and 19th centuries the word named the pepper plant Capsicum annuum, a native of tropical America, whose unripe fruit was pickled in vinegar and eaten with boiled meat.^[14][9] Tuscan proverbs recorded by Tommaseo already compare a red face and a red nose to a pepper.^[14] The phrase rosso come un peperone is said of a face flushed with shame, effort or sun, and naso a peperone of a big red nose.^[3][6][15]

Derivatives followed: peperoncino, the small hot pepper, in 1863, and peperonata, a dish of stewed peppers, in 1954.^[2] German took the word as Peperoni in 1865, Austrian German as Pfefferoni.^[16] English pepperoni, a spicy sausage, comes from the Italian plural, recorded from 1888 by DIFIT and by 1904 by Etymonline.^[16][17][1]

Timeline

• Before 1735 – Niccolò Forteguerri uses peperone.^[13][16]
• 1785 – French poivron is recorded, according to DEI.^[8]
• 1863 – Peperoncino is recorded.^[2]
• 1865 – German Peperoni is recorded.^[16]
• 1888 – English pepperoni is recorded.^[16]
• 1954 – Peperonata is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) The pepper plant, Capsicum annuum, of the nightshade family, native to tropical America and grown in many varieties for its fruit.^[3][6][5]
2. Bell pepper, sweet pepper: the fleshy green, red or yellow fruit of this plant, sweet or hot, eaten as a vegetable: peperoni arrostiti.^[3][6][4]
3. (figurative, colloquial) A big red nose.^[6][3]

Word family

• peperoncino
• peperonata

Related words

• pepe
• Latin piper
• French poivron
• pepperoni

Usage notes

Diventare rosso come un peperone is to blush deeply.^[4][15][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2843
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ a b c d e Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
17. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
18. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli