[This entry is an excerpt from the chapter "Spices, herbs, and other condiments" of Part II of the open-source textbook Spanish-English Cognates: An Unconventional Introduction to Spanish Linguistics.]
Go to the listing of entries on spices, herbs and other condiments
Go to the listing of entries on spices, herbs and other condiments
Eng. chili powder/paprika and Sp. pimentón/paprika
In the preceding section on chili peppers we mentioned
paprika, which is a powder made from dried chilies of different varieties of primarily
the species Capsicum annuum. The used of ground and powdered
chilies has a long tradition and it is used in many different cuisines, from
Chinese and Korean, to Tex-Mex, Mexican, and Spanish (from Spain). We are going
to look primarily at three types of powders made from chilies: cayenne pepper,
commercial chili powder, and paprika.
In North America, cayenne peppers can be used whole or
ground into cayenne powder (Sp. cayena en polvo), which is sold by the
name cayenne pepper (Sp. pimiento cayena). Sometimes the seeds
are also ground along with the flesh of the pepper. Cayenne pepper is the
strongest of the powdered chilies. Since it deteriorates quickly after being
ground, it should be bought in small quantities and it should be kept in a dark
container, away from sunlight.
What is sold as commercial chili powder in North America, on
the other hand, consists of powdered chili (Sp. chile en polvo), often mixed with other spices, such
as cumin, onion, oregano, garlic powder, and salt. This chili powder is also
ground coarser than plain cayenne pepper mix and it is not as strong. Different
varieties of chili are used to make chili powder, the main ones being cayenne,
chipotle, chile de árbol (lit. ‘tree
chili’, also known as bird’s beak chile
and rat’s tail chile), Cheongyang,
jalapeño, New Mexico chili (Sp. chile de
Nuevo México or chile del norte),
pasilla chile or chile negro (dried
form of chilaca chili pepper), and piri piri chili peppers (WP).
Other ground pepper types may also be found in specialized stores,
particularly online. One online store, for example offers the following options
for ground pepper: ground Aleppo Pepper, ground ancho chili, ground chipotle
chili, ground jalapeño chili. Also available are chili powder mixes other than
the standard commercial one, such as Berbere (Ethiopian spice blend).[i]
A popular type of ground chili goes by the name of paprika, pronounced [pə.ˈpʰɹi.kə], but also [ˈpʰæ.pɹɪ.kə] in some varieties
of British English. This is a Hungarian word that entered English in the 19th century
along with the spice. It is actually a diminutive Serbo-Croatian word derived
from the word for ‘pepper’, namely papar,
which just like the English word, ultimately comes from Latin pĭper (see above), which was
not the name for peppers in Latin but for peppercorn pepper (see §47.3.22
below). As we can see, the naming analogy that the Spanish started between
black pepper and chilies when they encountered the latter (pimienta-pimiento) was extended
to other European languages, not just English. The Spanish word pimienta now is primarily used for black
pepper, but it has traditionally been used for spicy chili powder as well.
(Pimiento on the other hand would be the generic word for chili in Spain.) Paprika
became very popular in Hungary by the end of the 18th century, the chili plants
having been introduced only in the 16th century from the then Ottoman Balkans.
Figure 177: Spanish paprika (Sp. pimentón)[ii]
Paprika can be made from a variety of chilies, in
particular sweet red tomato peppers. It may contain other spices besides powdered
chili, however, including the powder of hot chile, which is why there are two
major varieties of paprika: hot and sweet (not hot). Sweet paprika is made with
the flesh of the chile (pericarp) and most seeds removed, whereas hot paprika
is made with more seeds and other parts of the plant and other spicier types of
peppers, such as cayenne. There are several varieties of paprika in Hungary, at
least nine of them, from the most common, noble sweet (Édesnemes), which is slightly
pungent, to the hottest variety (erős). Paprika is used in goulash, for
example, which is the Hungarian national dish.
In Spain, the equivalent of paprika is pimentón, where
it is an important ingredient of many dishes since powder chili was introduced
in the 16th century. The word pimentón
is derived from pimiento, of which it
is an augmentative (the e ~ ie alternation in Spanish phonology is
due to stress, cf. Part I, Chapter 7
and Chapter 10).
Chilies used to make pimentón are smoked
first with burning wood. In some parts of Spanish America such as Venezuela,
however, the word pimentón refers to
fresh sweet peppers. To the extent that Spanish paprika is known in this
continent, it is usually called pimentón
de España.
As with paprika, there are two main types of pimentón
used in Spain’s cuisine: pimentón dulce,
literally ‘sweet paprika’, which is not hot/spicy, and pimentón picante, which is hot/spicy. There is a third semi-hot
variety known as pimentón agridulce
or ocal. Pimentón is an important
ingredient of many Spanish dishes (from Spain), such as patatas a la riojana ‘Rioja potatoes’, pulpo a la gallega ‘Galician octopus’, sobrasada ‘spicy Majorcan pork sausage’, chorizo, a highly-seasoned pork sausage, and other types of processed
cold meats or cold cuts (Sp. embutidos).
Figure 179: Chorizo picante de San Andrés del Rabanedo[iii]
Powdered chilies are also used in some of the many,
varied Spanish-American cuisines. In South America, it is mostly known as ají molido (‘ground chili’). Other names
such as ají de color, ají panca, and even páprika or paprika, a term Spanish has
borrowed from Hungarian, just like English has. Although this word is should
only presumably be used for the Hungarian varieties (pimentón húngaro),
it is a common term for all types of ground chili in Spanish America, probably
under the influence of English.[1]
Do note, however, that the word paprika
in Spanish did not appear in the DRAE until 1985. The word has become much more
common since the turn of the millennium.
Figure 178: Different types of chili powder for sale
in a market in Bolivia[iv]
[1] The Diccionario
panhispánico de dudas has the following entry: páprika o paprika. La
voz húngara paprika (‘pimiento rojo
que, reducido a polvo, se usa como condimento’) se emplea en español con dos
acentuaciones, ambas válidas. La forma esdrújula páprika refleja la pronunciación etimológica y es la preferida en
el uso culto... Pero está también muy extendida la pronunciación llana [papríka], a la que corresponde la grafía
sin tilde paprika… Aunque su
equivalente en español es pimentón,
es lícito emplear este extranjerismo para designar el condimento originario de
Hungría.
[ii] Source:
“Spanishsmokedpaprika” by Badagnani - Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via
Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spanishsmokedpaprika.jpg#/media/File:Spanishsmokedpaprika.jpg
[iii] Source: De Valdavia - Trabajo propio, CC BY-SA
3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17888287 (obtained: 2017.08.27)
[iv] Source: By User JoeCarrasco
on en.wikipedia - JoeCarrasco has confirmed by e-mail that he has taken this
image himself and that he licenses it under the GFDL. Lupo 20:33, 24 Feb 2005
(UTC), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1151147
(obtained: 2017.08.27)
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