paprika

Where does the word "paprika" come from? It comes from Serbian papar, passing through Hungarian before entering English (1800s).

Paprika’s story begins in Serbian: papar meant “pepper.” Related to the word for pepper, ultimately from Latin "piper". By 1600s-1700s, the word had taken hold in Hungarian as paprika. Adopted and applied to the ground red pepper spice. It reached English by 1800s as paprika. Szeged and Kalocsa in Hungary are the centres of paprika growing. Today, paprika means a ground spice made from dried red peppers, used in cooking.

1. Stage 1 · Serbian · medieval papar "pepper", related to the word for pepper, ultimately from Latin "piper".
2. Stage 2 · Hungarian · 1600s-1700s paprika "ground red pepper spice", adopted and applied to the ground red pepper spice.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1800s paprika "a ground spice made from dried red peppers", Szeged and Kalocsa in Hungary are the centres of paprika growing.