Pepper country

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The pepper country is a slang term from the 16th century. It is used to wish someone or something far away.

etymology

The exoticism of pepper has been proverbial since ancient times. The oldest tradition goes back to the Alsatian Franciscan and humanist Thomas Murner . Around 1512 he wrote in his conjuration of fools: "Oh warents instead, because the pepper has grown." He also writes about the gambling addiction of his contemporaries: "Oh God, if he were in the pepper country who first invented the game." at the same time (1515) the phrase appears in Latin form in the satirical Epistolae obscurorum virorum : "utinam omnes poetae essent ubi piper crescit", in English: "If only all poets were there where the pepper grows."

It is sometimes wrongly assumed that the pepper country lies in French Guiana , the country of origin of the cayenne pepper and a French place of exile during the colonial period. Guyana was discovered by the Spaniards in 1500, but was only colonized by the Dutch in 1581 and by the French in 1604, which contradicts Murner's tradition. Rather, India is considered the country of origin of pepper, more precisely the Malabar coast . The Egyptian merchant and navigator Kosmas Indicopleustes (around 525) described the west coast of South India as the country "where the pepper grows". Even Christopher Columbus had to drive the plan westward to get into the spice-rich India. The symbolism of the many exotic spices from India and the common idea of ​​the remotest place in the world at the time are the reasons why one wished someone who was unpleasant to go to Pepperland.

A century later (1669) Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen wrote in Der Abentheuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch : "By the time you have finished with your evidence, I may be where the pepper grows."

Formulations

  • "Go where the pepper grows."
  • "I wish you to Pfefferland."
  • "I wish you were where the pepper grows."

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Murner: The conjuring up of fools. Brockhaus
  2. ↑ Where is the pepper country? ( Memento of the original from March 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Report from the broadcast Mailbox on March 10, 2009, SRF-Radio @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.srf.ch
  3. ↑ pepper. Entry in the dictionary of idioms, 2013.