“ A VERDE FOLHA DA ERVA ARDENTE”. BETEL CHEWING IN 16TH CENTURY EUROPEAN SOURCES帶綠葉的灼熱植物’ — 檳榔在16 世紀歐洲原始資料中
The article examines how the habit of betel chewing (consumption of quid from leaves of *Piper betel*) moved from Asia into the European repertoire at the threshold of Portuguese expansion, focusing on sixteenth-century testimonies. The central thesis holds that, despite the existence of earlier men...
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| Published in: | Review of Culture |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Articles |
| Published: |
Instituto Cultural de Macau
January 2007
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40021/3724 |
| _version_ | 1877196270951464960 |
|---|---|
| author | Rui Manuel Loureiro |
| author_autocomplete | Rui Manuel Loureiro |
| author_browse | Rui Manuel Loureiro |
| author_facet | Rui Manuel Loureiro Rui Manuel Loureiro |
| author_sort | Rui Manuel Loureiro |
| container_title | Review of Culture |
| container_title_str | Review of Culture |
| container_volume | 21 |
| container_volume_str | 21 |
| description | The article examines how the habit of betel chewing (consumption of quid from leaves of *Piper betel*) moved from Asia into the European repertoire at the threshold of Portuguese expansion, focusing on sixteenth-century testimonies. The central thesis holds that, despite the existence of earlier mentions in Arabic and medieval sources circulating in Europe, the effective presence of betel in European descriptions depended above all on the “informational event” associated with the Cape route and Portuguese accounts, which introduced both observed practices and local vocabulary (e.g., *atambol/atanbor*; *betola*; lexical variants linked to Malayalam *vettila*).
Methodologically, the author undertakes a critical and comparative reading of descriptions by travellers and chroniclers, confronting the reliability of passages, the chronology of first occurrences, and possible editorial mediations (such as interpolations and re-editions in European languages, including Ramusio).
As main results, the article identifies Álvaro Velho as the first early modern author to record betel chewing with social and ritual detail, and demonstrates that in subsequent Portuguese texts the practice appears associated with different strata (“kings and commoners”), often described by its visible effects (red mouth and darkened teeth). It concludes that betel became consolidated in the European natural-cultural imagination through direct observation and translation—not merely through textual inheritance—shaping the way Asian alterity was narrated. |
| first_indexed | 2026-09-11T02:56:54Z |
| format | Articles |
| genre | Articles |
| genre_facet | Articles |
| hierarchy_browse | Review of Culture{{{_ID_}}}zotero-coll-76L3BRGH |
| hierarchy_parent_id | zotero-coll-76L3BRGH |
| hierarchy_parent_title | Review of Culture |
| hierarchy_sequence | 0000 |
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| hierarchy_top_title | News |
| hierarchytype | Default |
| id | zotero-ZRDT3D2E |
| institution | zotero_group |
| issn | 1682-1106 |
| last_indexed | 2026-09-11T02:56:54Z |
| latest_content_date | 2026-09-11T02:56:54Z |
| publishDate | January 2007 |
| publishDateRange | 2007 |
| publishDateSort | 2007 |
| publishPlace | Macau |
| publisher | Instituto Cultural de Macau |
| publisherStr | Instituto Cultural de Macau |
| record_format | zotero |
| spelling | “ A VERDE FOLHA DA ERVA ARDENTE”. BETEL CHEWING IN 16TH CENTURY EUROPEAN SOURCES帶綠葉的灼熱植物’ — 檳榔在16 世紀歐洲原始資料中 The article examines how the habit of betel chewing (consumption of quid from leaves of *Piper betel*) moved from Asia into the European repertoire at the threshold of Portuguese expansion, focusing on sixteenth-century testimonies. The central thesis holds that, despite the existence of earlier mentions in Arabic and medieval sources circulating in Europe, the effective presence of betel in European descriptions depended above all on the “informational event” associated with the Cape route and Portuguese accounts, which introduced both observed practices and local vocabulary (e.g., *atambol/atanbor*; *betola*; lexical variants linked to Malayalam *vettila*). Methodologically, the author undertakes a critical and comparative reading of descriptions by travellers and chroniclers, confronting the reliability of passages, the chronology of first occurrences, and possible editorial mediations (such as interpolations and re-editions in European languages, including Ramusio). As main results, the article identifies Álvaro Velho as the first early modern author to record betel chewing with social and ritual detail, and demonstrates that in subsequent Portuguese texts the practice appears associated with different strata (“kings and commoners”), often described by its visible effects (red mouth and darkened teeth). It concludes that betel became consolidated in the European natural-cultural imagination through direct observation and translation—not merely through textual inheritance—shaping the way Asian alterity was narrated. Instituto Cultural de Macau Macau Review of Culture Articles January 2007 Rui Manuel Loureiro |
| spellingShingle | “ A VERDE FOLHA DA ERVA ARDENTE”. BETEL CHEWING IN 16TH CENTURY EUROPEAN SOURCES帶綠葉的灼熱植物’ — 檳榔在16 世紀歐洲原始資料中 Rui Manuel Loureiro |
| title | “ A VERDE FOLHA DA ERVA ARDENTE”. BETEL CHEWING IN 16TH CENTURY EUROPEAN SOURCES帶綠葉的灼熱植物’ — 檳榔在16 世紀歐洲原始資料中 |
| title_autocomplete | “ A VERDE FOLHA DA ERVA ARDENTE”. BETEL CHEWING IN 16TH CENTURY EUROPEAN SOURCES帶綠葉的灼熱植物’ — 檳榔在16 世紀歐洲原始資料中 |
| title_full | “ A VERDE FOLHA DA ERVA ARDENTE”. BETEL CHEWING IN 16TH CENTURY EUROPEAN SOURCES帶綠葉的灼熱植物’ — 檳榔在16 世紀歐洲原始資料中 |
| title_fullStr | “ A VERDE FOLHA DA ERVA ARDENTE”. BETEL CHEWING IN 16TH CENTURY EUROPEAN SOURCES帶綠葉的灼熱植物’ — 檳榔在16 世紀歐洲原始資料中 |
| title_full_unstemmed | “ A VERDE FOLHA DA ERVA ARDENTE”. BETEL CHEWING IN 16TH CENTURY EUROPEAN SOURCES帶綠葉的灼熱植物’ — 檳榔在16 世紀歐洲原始資料中 |
| title_short | “ A VERDE FOLHA DA ERVA ARDENTE”. BETEL CHEWING IN 16TH CENTURY EUROPEAN SOURCES帶綠葉的灼熱植物’ — 檳榔在16 世紀歐洲原始資料中 |
| title_sort | “ a verde folha da erva ardente”. betel chewing in 16th century european sources帶綠葉的灼熱植物’ — 檳榔在16 世紀歐洲原始資料中 |
| url | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40021/3724 |
| zotero_collection_key | 76L3BRGH |