Spice names travelled with the spices, through Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Greek, Latin, Nahuatl and French. Where the common names come from, and which popular derivations are folk etymology.
Overview¶
Spices often carried their names along the trade routes, so the words English uses are frequently the last link in a long chain: a Sanskrit or Dravidian word borrowed into Persian or Greek, passed into Latin, reshaped by Old French and finally anglicised. The etymologies below follow standard dictionaries such as the Oxford English Dictionary. Where an origin is uncertain we say so, and several popular derivations are folk etymologies, flagged as such.
"Spice" itself¶
Spice comes from Old French espice, from Latin species, meaning "kind" or "sort", which in late Latin also meant goods or wares, and particularly the category of valuable aromatic goods. The same Latin word gives English species and specie. In medieval English, "spices" could include sugar, dried fruit and even medicines.
Asian spices¶
| Spice | Origin of the name |
|---|---|
| Pepper | Old English pipor, from Latin piper, from Greek peperi, ultimately from Sanskrit pippalī, which meant long pepper |
| Ginger | Old English gingifer, from Latin zingiber, Greek zingiberis, from a Middle Indo-Aryan form (Pali singivera); Sanskrit śṛṅgavera is often glossed "horn-shaped", but this is probably a reinterpretation of a Dravidian word |
| Cinnamon | Greek kinnamōmon, from a Semitic source; compare Hebrew qinnāmōn. The ultimate origin is unknown |
| Cassia | Latin and Greek kasia, from Hebrew qəṣīʿāh |
| Cloves | Old French clou de girofle, "nail of the clove tree", from Latin clavus, nail, for the dried bud's shape |
| Nutmeg | Middle English notemuge, from Old French nois muguete, "musk-scented nut" |
| Mace | Old French macis, of uncertain origin; long confused with Latin macir, a different bark |
| Cardamom | Latin cardamomum, from Greek kardamōmon, a compound of kardamon (cress) and amōmon (an aromatic plant) |
| Turmeric | Uncertain; perhaps from French terre-mérite or medieval Latin terra merita, "worthy earth", which may itself be a folk reshaping of an Eastern word |
| Galangal | Old French galingal, from Arabic khalanjān, probably from Chinese gāoliángjiāng, "ginger of Gaoliang", a region in Guangdong |
| Tamarind | Medieval Latin tamarindus, from Arabic tamr hindī, "Indian date" |
| Sesame | Greek sēsamon, from a Semitic source; compare Akkadian šamaššammū |
| Curry | From Tamil kaṟi, a sauce or relish, via Portuguese caril |
Mediterranean and Middle Eastern spices and herbs¶
| Name | Origin of the name |
|---|---|
| Cumin | Latin cuminum, Greek kyminon, from a Semitic source; compare Akkadian kamūnu and Arabic kammūn |
| Coriander | Greek koriannon. Linking it with koris, "bedbug", for the smell of the fresh leaf, is an ancient suggestion but unproven |
| Saffron | Old French safran, from Arabic zaʿfarān |
| Caraway | Medieval Latin carvi, from Arabic karawiyā, itself probably from Greek karon |
| Mustard | Old French moustarde, from moust, grape must, because the ground seed was mixed with must |
| Sumac | Old French sumac, from Arabic summāq, via Syriac |
| Tarragon | From medieval Latin tragonia and Arabic ṭarkhūn; related to dracunculus, "little dragon", its botanical epithet |
| Basil | Greek basilikon, "royal (plant)" |
| Rosemary | Latin ros marinus, "dew of the sea"; the association with the Virgin Mary is later folk etymology |
| Sage | Old French sauge, from Latin salvia, from salvus, healthy |
| Oregano | Spanish, from Latin origanum, Greek origanon; the popular gloss "joy of the mountain" is uncertain |
American spices¶
- Chilli comes from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, chīlli, via Spanish chile. British English spells it chilli, American English chili or chile.
- Pepper, as applied to chillies and capsicums, dates from Columbus, who called them pimiento, "pepper", though they are unrelated to black pepper. See the Columbian exchange.
- Paprika is Hungarian, from Serbian or Croatian paprika, a diminutive of papar, pepper.
- Allspice is an English coinage of the 17th century, because the berry was thought to combine the flavours of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Its botanical genus, Pimenta, again reflects the Spanish word for pepper.
- Vanilla is from Spanish vainilla, "little pod", diminutive of vaina, sheath, from Latin vagina.
- Annatto comes from a Carib word, and achiote from Nahuatl āchiyotl.
💡 Why the confusion over "pepper"?
Europeans named many unfamiliar pungent spices after pepper: long pepper, cubeb ("tailed pepper"), grains of paradise ("melegueta pepper"), allspice ("Jamaica pepper"), chilli pepper, sichuan pepper and pink peppercorns. Only the first two are true peppers of the genus Piper.
Folk etymologies to be wary of¶
- "Curry comes from the Tamil for sauce" is broadly right, but the English word may also have been influenced by older English cury, cookery, as in The Forme of Cury. The two words are probably unrelated in origin.
- "Turmeric means 'worthy earth'" describes a medieval Latin form, not the original source of the word.
- "Cayenne is named after the city in French Guiana" is uncertain: the word may derive from a Tupi name for the chilli, later assimilated to the place name. See cayenne pepper.
See also glossary and the spice trade.