pevere

Forms

pevere m (plural peveri)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin piper (“pepper”), in a form of northern Italy.^[2][3][4][1] Meyer-Lübke noted that pepe belongs rather to the south and the Old Italian form of this word rather to the north.^[5] Treccani calls it the regional northern name of pepper, especially in the Veneto.^[3]

The same Latin word gave Dalmatian pepro, Sardinian pibere, Friulian pevar, Romansh paiver, French poivre, Occitan pebre, Catalan pebre and Spanish pebre.^[5][6] From Latin it passed into Germanic: Old High German pfeffar, modern German Pfeffer, and Old English pipor, modern pepper.^[6]

The Latin word is from Ancient Greek πέπερι (péperi), a word of eastern origin.^[7][6][8] Wiktionary traces the Greek word through Middle Persian to an Indo-Aryan source, ultimately Sanskrit पिप्पलि (pippali, “long pepper”), itself of unknown origin.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the first record to the first half of the 14th century, with the sense “pepper”.^[2] DEI's earliest example is from the Pataffio, which it places in the 15th century.^[4] Tommaseo quotes it there, E pevere in comino, “and pepper in cumin”, and in an old book of remedies that lists pepper among the spices that harm the sick.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Tommaseo already marked the word as obsolete, while the dictionaries of today keep it as a regional northern word.^[9][3][2] Derivatives include peverello (before 1597), pevera (1729), peverone (1958) and peverina (20th century).^[2]

In the north the word also enters plant names: Vicentine pevere montano is the mezereon, Daphne mezereum.^[5]

Timeline

• First half of the 14th century – Pevere is first recorded.^[2]
• 15th century – The Pataffio uses the word.^[4]
• Before 1597 – Peverello is first recorded.^[2]
• 1729 – Pevera is first recorded.^[2]
• 1958 – Peverone is first recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional, northern) pepper, the same as pepe.^{[2][3][10][11][1]}

Word family

• pevera
• peveraccio
• peverella
• peverello
• peverina
• peverone

Related words

• pepe
• Latin piper
• French poivre

Usage notes

The standard word is pepe, and pevere is regional, used mainly in the Veneto.^[3][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
4. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2887
5. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
11. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli