Chili Say What? Linguistics Help Pinpoint Pepper's Origins (fwd link)

[Phillip E Cash Cash]

*Chili Say What? Linguistics Help Pinpoint Pepper's Origins*

by APRIL FULTON
April 17, 2014 2:52 PM ET

Count us among those who just can't get enough chili pepper news.

These spicy fruits are beloved around the world for their ability to sex up
nearly any cuisine. They're the world's most widely grown spice crop, so
it's hard to imagine that their reach was once limited to the early farmers
in what is now eastern Mexico.

Now we know just a little bit more about where they came from, thanks to
archaeologists using paleobiolinguistics — namely, studying ancient
languages for words that mean pepper — along with the more traditional ways
of figuring out how and where plants are domesticated.

To sleuth a crop's origins, scientists typically use plants' genetic makeup
in geographic areas with the most diversity and where they have found
archaeological remains.

This study added linguistics — "the earliest linguistic evidence that a
cultivated chili pepper existed" — to the mix, according to an
international team of researchers led by University of California, Davis
plant scientist Paul Gepts. They also modeled the areas most
environmentally suitable to the plants and their ancestors.
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Access full article below:
​
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/04/17/304139132/chili-say-what-linguistics-help-pinpoint-peppers-origins
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