• Simulation6@sopuli.xyz
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    16 hours ago

    For some varieties yes, such as the bell pepper. You can get green, yellow, orange and red bell peppers, which are all just different maturity levels.
    Black peppers (old world) are very different from new world capsicum plants. They are all called peppers because they are hot, I guess. Sort of like maze being called corn, which is just Latin for grain. Shows a decided lack of imagination.

    • Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe
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      14 hours ago

      There was a meme recently about Columbus naming everything they found “pepper”. I suspect it’s a result of language at the time.

      Since English has borrowed heavily over the centuries, we now have multiple words for these different things as words for the same thing come in from other languages.

      German seems to build compound words for things.

      • Ephera@lemmy.ml
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        8 hours ago

        German seems to build compound words for things.

        Well, not in this case:

        Black pepper = Pfeffer
        Bell pepper = Paprika
        Chili pepper = Chili (although you do rarely also see the compound word “Chilischoten”)