pimenta

Forms

pimenta f (plural pimentas, diminutive pimentinha, augmentative pimentão)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pigmenta (“drugs, plant juices, spices”), the plural of pigmentum (“colouring matter, paint”), written Old Galician-Portuguese pimenta in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] In Medieval Latin the plural meant spices and the singular red pepper or spiced wine.^[5] Nascentes notes that the word took over the place of the Latin piper (“pepper”), narrowing its sense from spices in general.^[4] Houaiss counts it the popular doublet of the learned pigmento.^[2]

The same Latin word is Spanish pimienta, Catalan piment, Occitan pimenta and Old French piment (“spiced wine”).^[6] The Latin noun is formed from pingō (“to paint”) with the suffix -mentum, and Wiktionary takes it back to Proto-Indo-European *peyḱ- (“spot, colour”).^[7][1]

Bluteau (1712–1728) thought the word came, corrupted, from the name of the plant on the Malabar coast, which he gives as ⟨Pimpilim⟩.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin charter of 1118 lists manteiga et melle et pigmenta et cebolas “butter and honey and spices and onions”, and a Latin legal text of 1195 already has the Romance form, uel de pimenta uel de grana “either of pepper or of grain”.^[9] Houaiss and Machado date the Portuguese pimenta to 1287.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval and early modern language pimenta was the black pepper of Asia: the 16th- and 17th-century dictionaries render it by Latin piper, and the chronicles of the East speak of loading pepper in Cochin.^[10][11][12] Morais (1789) defines it as an aromatic, burning drug, and Vieira (1871–1874) already adds the small hot fruits of Brazil.^[13][12] In Brazil the name passed to the American chilli peppers of the genus Capsicum, which Houaiss puts first.^[2]

Figurative senses followed: malice and spice in what is said or written, and in Brazil sensuality, a hot-tempered or quarrelsome person, a restless child and a spirited horse.^[2][14]

Timeline

• 1118 – pigmenta in a Latin charter.^[9][2]
• 1195 – pimenta in a Latin legal text.^[9]
• 1287 – first record of the Portuguese pimenta.^[2][9]
• 1522 – pimẽta in a private letter.^[15]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders pimenta by Latin piper.^[10]
• 1600s – first record of pimentão “bell pepper”.^[3]
• 1634 – first record of pimenteiro.^[3]
• 1813 – first records of pimenteira and apimentado.^[3]
• 1871 – first record of apimentar.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of several plants of the genus Capsicum, native to tropical America, and their pungent fruit, the chilli pepper, used as a spice.^[2][14][1]
2. Any of several plants of the genus Piper, especially black pepper (pimenta-do-reino), and their fruit.^[2][16][1]
3. The pepper used in cooking: the powder of the dried fruits, ground with or without the husk: Juntou sal e pimenta ao molho.^[2][17]
4. Any of various other plants with a pungent fruit or seed used as spice, such as pimenta-da-áfrica.^[2]
5. Any of the trees of the genus Pimenta of tropical America, such as allspice (pimenta-da-jamaica).^[2]
6. (figurative) malice; what makes a remark or story spicy or biting: uma anedota com muita pimenta.^[2][18]
7. (Brazil, figurative) Sensuality, lust.^[2][14]
8. (Brazil, figurative) A hot-tempered, quarrelsome person; also a restless, lively person.^[2][19]
9. (Brazil) A spirited horse that runs well.^[2]

Word family

• apimentar
• pimentão
• pimenteira
• pimenteiro
• pimenta-do-reino
• pimenta-malagueta
• pimenta-da-jamaica

Related words

• apimentado
• pigmento
• pimental
• pimento
• Latin pigmentum
• Spanish pimienta

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. pimenta
3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. pimenta
4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. pimenta
5. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. pigmentum
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. pigmentum
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. pigmentum
8. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pimenta
9. ^ a b c d e Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. pimenta
10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pimenta
11. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pimenta
12. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 4, 803
13. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 202
14. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. pimenta
15. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. pimenta
16. ^ Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. pimenta
17. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7178
18. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. pimenta
19. ^ Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. pimenta