malagueta

English

Alternative forms

• melegueta, mallaguetta
• (obsolete): manegete, maniguetta, maniguette, mallagetta, mellegette, malegutta, malaguetta, malagato, malaget, malagetta, malaghetta, malegetta, mileguetta, malaguette, malaguet, meleguetta

Etymology

From Portuguese malagueta, probably via Middle French malaguette, from Italian meleghetta, from Italian melega (“sorghum”) and -etta (diminutive suffix).

There are various paths by which the name could have become applied to the African pepper. Medieval Latin melegeta was an Indonesian spice called after millet on the basis of the supposed resemblance of their grains. By the mid-15th century, the West African Grain Coast was known in Portuguese as costa da malagueta, whence the place name was borrowed into other languages and applied to its local products. Early English use reports that it was the local name of the spice, long preserved around Cape Palmas, which may indicate a Mande or Kwa origin, although such use is usually attributed to loanwords from Portuguese.

The unrelated Brazilian pepper acquired the name from its similar piquancy.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /maləˈɡɛtə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌmɑləˈɡweɪdə/, /ˌmɑləˈɡeɪdə/

Noun

malagueta (plural malaguetas)

1. Synonym of grains of paradise, the seeds or seed capsules of the West African Aframomum melegueta; the plant itself.
   • 1568, André Thevet, translated by Thomas Hacket, The New Found Worlde, or Antarctike, Wherein Is Contained Woderful and Strange Things, 26v:

     In Ginney the fruit that is most rife and common... is named Maniguetta.

   • 1863, Richard F. Burton, Wanderings in West Africa, Dover Publications 1991 edition, volume II, page 37:

     The people of the Gold Coast, when suffering from headache, rub over the forehead a paste of Malaguetta pepper.

   • 1931, Maud Grieve, A Modern Herbal, volume II, page 628:

     Grains of Paradise, Guinea Grains, Melegueta or Mallaguetta Pepper, from Ampelopsis Grana Paradisi, or Habzeli of Ethiopia... Two kinds of these grains are known in the English markets, one plumper than the other... They resemble Pepper in their effects, but are seldom used except in veterinary practice and to give strength to spirits, wine, beer, and vinegar.

2. The seeds or seed capsules of a Caribbean variety of Capsicum frutescens; the plant itself, now extensively grown in Brazil, Portugal, and Mozambique.
   • 1824, Johann Baptist von Spix et al., translated by Hannibal Evans Lloyd, Travels in Brazil in the Years 1817-1820, Vol. II, iv, ii, 260:

     Their seasoning is generally a berry of the Malaguetta, a variety of the Capsicum Gutescens.

Usage notes

In reference to the African plant and seasoning, the spelling malagueta is more common in cooking and the spelling melegueta more common among botanists.

Derived terms

• malagueta pepper, malagueta chili

Translations

grains of paradise — see grains of paradise

Capsicum frutescens, seeds or plant

• Portuguese: malagueta (pt) f, pimenta-malagueta (pt) f

References

• “malagueta, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Anagrams

• Guatemala

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese malagueta.

Noun

malagueta f (plural malaguetes)

1. grains of paradise (Aframomum melegueta)

   Synonym: grans del paradís

Further reading

• “malagueta” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “malagueta”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian meleghetta, from melega.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ma.laˈɡe.tɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ma.laˈɡe.tɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ma.laˈɡe.ta/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mɐ.lɐˈɡe.tɐ/ [mɐ.lɐˈɣe.tɐ]

Noun

malagueta f (plural malaguetas)

1. Guinea pepper; grains of paradise (Aframomum melegueta)

   Synonym: pimenta-da-guiné

2. malagueta (a very hot type of chilli)

   Synonym: pimenta-malagueta

Descendants

• → English: malagueta
• → French: maniguette

Further reading

• “malagueta” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024.
• “malagueta” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /malaˈɡeta/ [ma.laˈɣ̞e.t̪a]
• Rhymes: -eta
• Syllabification: ma‧la‧gue‧ta

Noun

malagueta f (plural malaguetas)

1. malagueta (Aframomum melegueta)
2. tabasco pepper spice

Further reading

• “malagueta”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Anagrams

• Guatemala