Long Pepper #

Illustration of Piper longum L. from Bentley, R., & Trimen, H. (1880). Medicinal Plants: Being descriptions with original figures of the principal plants employed in medicine and an account of the characters, properties, and uses of their parts and products of medicinal value. J. & A. Churchill.

Long Pepper (Piper longum L.) is a culinary and medicinal spice from the Piperaceae family,¹ originating in the region(s) of E. Himalaya to S. China; Indo-China.² It is used for its fruit, primarily for South and Souteast Asian cuisine; Ayurveda and TCM. Its aroma is described as pungent, peppery, with a heat index of 4-9.³

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Etymologies #

English long pepper ’long pepper’, eOE; cf. cognates Anglo-Norman as poivre lonc (13th cent.; Middle French, French poivre long) and also Middle Dutch lanc peper (Dutch lange peper), Middle Low German lanc pēper, lancpēper, Old High German langpfeffar (Middle High German langer pheffer, German langer Pfeffer), Old Swedish langa pipar (Swedish långpeppar) < Latin piper longus ’long pepper’ [pepper-long ]

Arabic دارفلفل dārfilfil ’long pepper’, compound of two Persian words < Persian دار پلپل dār pilpil ’long pepper’, formed within Persian from dār ‘wood’ + pilpil ‘pepper’ (both words are Sanskrit loanwords) < ultimately from Sanskrit dāru + pippali ’long pepper’

Mandarin Chinese 蓽拔 bìbá MC /piɪt̚ buɑt̚/ ’long pepper’, a phonetic loan < Sanskrit पिप्पलि pippali ’long pepper Piper longum (plant and berry); a berry'

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