Etymograph

English

ghost pepper

Ghost pepper comes from Assamese ভোট-জলকীয়া.

  1. Assamesemodernভোট-জলকীয়া
  2. Englishearliest quotation 2012ghost pepper

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Assamesemodernভোট-জলকীয়া
  2. Englishearliest quotation 2012ghost pepper

Earliest quotation: 2012, Kevin Gillespie, David Joachim: “I buy a puree of ghost peppers from Dave's…”

Made of the words ghost + pepper

Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéysd-

…

Proto-Germanic *gaistaz ‘terror’

Proto-West Germanic *gaist ‘ghost’

Old English gāst ‘breath’

Middle English gost ‘a spiritual being’

English ghost

Ancient Greek πέπερι

Latin piper

Proto-West Germanic *pipar

Old English piper

Middle English peper

English pepper

The story

The first element ভোট (bhüt, “Bhutanese”) was mistakenly confused for the near-homonym ভূত (bhut, “ghost”), thus producing the English (mis-)translation "ghost pepper".

Every English word from Assamese ভোট-জলকীয়া

Today it means

noun Synonym of bhut jolokia.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Assamese ভোট-জলকীয়া / ghost pepper

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