[CH] piri piri - more
Peter Moss (pmoss@yoda.alt.za)
Sun, 6 Jun 1999 23:14:59 RSA-2
Jambo
Not to let this one die I did some checking. My swahili is
about two words of which jambo (hello, greetings) is one of
them. So I asked my one and only swahili speaking customer
what was the meaning of piri. First my apologies in passing on
the mistaken meaning given in Jean Andrews book of "chile". It
means "hot". In African tradition as mentioned previously the
double use is a great emphasis. Piri-piri would be "extremely
hot". The use here and in Mozambique would be connected with a
dish ie. Chicken Piri-Piri or Prawns Piri-Piri
Now the other piece of trivia to confuse the issue even more.
Also a chance for someone that has a piece of the puzzle to make
a connection. Piripiri is a town in Brazil. Noted when reading
The Gold of the Gods - Erich Von Daniken.
So what is the connection between a town in Brazil and Zanzibar
off the east coast of Africa that has as a result the swahili
word piri (hot) and the adopted use by the Portuguese of
Mozambique and South Africa (possibly others) to describe a
style of cooking?
Swahili is spoken mostly in Africa by those with a Arabic
influence. Swahili is derived from arabic meaning "the coast"
Zanzibar is an island to the north of Mocambique off the coast
of Tanganyika. In the 19th century Zanzibar and a good piece
of the coast was a Arab state. Tanganyika is the northern
boundry of Mozambique (Portuguese East Africa).
Very little to nothing is documented about the early spread of
capsicum in Africa. See the Genus Capsicum (Solanceae) in
Africa. - W. H. Eshbaugh, Bothalia 14, 3 & 4, 1983
Peter
-- Peter Moss
"Well, let's just say, 'if your VCR is still blinking 12:00, you
don't want Linux'". - Bruce Perens