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Welcome to the Spices & Spice Terminology Database 1.2 #

This website contains information on spices and spice names. It aims to list, categorize, and introduce spices from a philological point of view, focusing on their origins, history, spread, cultural significance, and linguistic analysis. The website is accompanying a PhD dissertation titled Mapping the Language of Spices: A Corpus-Based, Philological Study on the Words of the Spice Domain. The goal of this project is to gather the available knowledge on spices (and in the future herbs, incense, perfumes, oils, and other aromatics as well), especially in terms of historical data.

Our main hypothesis is that along their diffusion in early global trade, these materials have left a continuous lingusitic trail, which then serves as evidence for their journey even at time-depths where written or archeological evidence is not available.

Some spices around the globe

This interactive map shows the spices currently available on this website. Explore the full map here!

     # Species                      English         Chinese        Transliteration       Arabic Transliteration
     1 Pimenta dioica               allspice        多香果          duōxiāngguǒ     فلفل إفرنجي filfil ifranjī
     2 Pimpinella anisum            anise           茴芹            huíqín                 ينسون yansūn
     3 Ferula assa-foetida et al.   asafoetida      阿魏            wèi                   حلتیت ḥiltīt
     4 Carum carvi                  caraway         葛縷子          gělǚzi                كراويا karāwiyā
     5 Elettaria cardamomum         cardamom        荳蔻            dòukòu                   هال hāl
     6 Cinnamomum cassia            cassia          肉桂            ròuguì                 سليخة salīkha
     7 Capsicum annuum et al.       chile           辣椒            làjiāo              فلفل حار fulful hārr
     8 Cinnamomum verum             cinnamon        錫蘭肉桂         xīlánròuguì             قرفة qirfa
     9 Syzygium aromaticum          clove           丁香            dīngxiāng              قرنفل qaranful
    10 Coriandrum sativum           coriander       芫荽            yánsui                 كزبرة kuzbara
    11 Cuminum cyminum              cumin           孜然            zīrán                   كمون kammūn
    12 Anethum graveolens           dill            蒔蘿            shíluó                   شبت shibitt
    13 Foeniculum vulgare           fennel          茴香            huíxiāng                 شمر shamar
    14 Trigonella foenum-graecum    fenugreek       胡蘆巴          húlúbā                  حلبة ḥulba
    15 Zingiber officinale          ginger          薑              jiāng                 زنجبيل zanjabīl
    16 Piper longum                 long pepper     蓽撥            bìbō                دار فلفل dār filfil
    17 Myristica fragrans           mace            肉荳蔻皮        ròudòukòupí           بسباسة basbāsa
    18 Myristica fragrans           nutmeg          肉荳蔻          ròudòukòu          جوز الطيب jawz al-ṭīb
    19 Piper nigrum                 pepper          胡椒            hújiāo                  فلفل filfil, fulful
    20 Crocus sativus               saffron         番紅花          fānhónghuā            زعفران zaʿfarān
    21 Zanthoxylum spp.             Sichuan pepper  花椒            huājiāo         فلفل سيتشوان filfil sītshuwān
    22 Illicium verum               star anise      八角            bājiǎo            ينسون نجمي yansūn najmī
    23 Curcuma longa                turmeric        薑黃            jiānghuáng              كركم kurkum
    24 Vanilla planifolia           vanilla         香草            xiāngcǎo             فانيليا fānīliyā

The set of 24 spices included in this website, with scientific names of the source plant, names in English, Chinese, Arabic, and their transliterations.

The Thesis #

Download the thesis here. #

The Data #

You can download the three datasets in csv (comma separated values) format, and open them with any software capable of handling tables or spreadsheets.

Acknowledgements #

The dissertation that serves as a basis for this database was prepared at the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, under the supervision of Prof. Chu-Ren Huang, funded by the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS).

Updates and versioning #

  • 2023-08-09: v 1.2 Uploaded datasets.

  • 2023-07-29:  v 1.1 Removed “beta” designation, finalized content.

  • 2022-09-29: v 1.0 Created the website (beta).


How to Cite #

The Thesis #

Parti, G. (2023). Mapping the Language of Spices A Corpus-Based, Philological Study on the Words of the Spice Domain [Ph.D. thesis]. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

The Website #

Parti, G. (n.d.). Home. Spices & Spice Terminology Database 1.2. Retrieved July 24, 2023, https://partigabor.github.io/spice/

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