Food & Drink · 2

The original place name behind 'jalapeño,' before Spanish colonizers altered its spelling, came from which indigenous language?

Answer

Nahuatl

The name Xalapa derives from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, roughly meaning 'place by the sandy water,' which Spanish colonizers later respelled as Jalapa.

💡 Did you know?

Jalapeño peppers get their name from Xalapa, Mexico, yet they were renamed by Spanish colonizers who altered the Nahuatl original.

Other options people guess

  • Maya
  • Zapotec
  • Mixtec

Topics

  • chili-peppers
  • language
  • mexico
  • nahuatl

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