Black pepper

The word "pepper" is ultimately derived from the Dravidian word for long pepper, pippali.[2][3][4] Ancient Greek and Latin turned pippali into the Latin piper which was used by the Romans to refer both to black pepper and long pepper, as the Romans erroneously believed that both of these spices were derived from the same plant.[citation needed] The English word for pepper is derived from the Old English pipor. The Latin word is also the source of Romanian piper, Italian pepe, Dutch peper, German Pfeffer, French poivre, and other similar forms. In the 16th century, pepper started referring to the unrelated New World chili pepper as well. "Pepper" was used in a figurative sense to mean "spirit" or "energy" at least as far back as the 1840s; in the early 20th century, this was shortened to pep