Allspice #

Illustration of Pimenta dioica (L.) Merr. from Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen (1887)

Allspice (Pimenta dioica (L.) Merr.) is a culinary spice from the Myrtaceae family,¹ originating in the region(s) of S. Mexico to C. America; Caribbean.² It is used for its unripe fruit and leaf, primarily for pickles, wines, desserts, liquors. Its aroma is described as pungent, mixed, spicy, with a heat index of 4.³

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Etymologies #

English allspice, from all + spice; after the flavor profile that resembles the combined aroma of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and black pepper, 1621

English pimento ‘allspice; sweet pepper’, ca. 1660 < partly Portuguese pimenta ‘allspice; sweet pepper; black pepper’ < and partly Spanish pimiento ‘hot and sweet pepper; formerly also black pepper; pepper plant of both kinds’, earlier pimienta ‘black pepper; peppercorn; ground pepper’ c., 1495 < Medieval Latin pigmenta ‘plant juice; food seasoning; condiment; spices; perfumes’, plural of pigmentum < Latin pigmentum ‘colour, paint; ointment; drug; spiced wine’, from pingō ’to paint’ + -mentum ‘instrument’

Arabic فلفل إفرنجي fulful ifranjī ‘allspice’ [European pepper ], literally ‘Frankish pepper’, named so because it was transmitted by Europeans, 1700?

Mandarin Chinese 多香果 duōxiāngguǒ ‘allspice’ [many-spice-fruit ], maybe a semantic translation

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