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# Pumpkin Spice Linguistics
- URL: https://linguisticdiscovery.com/posts/pumpkin-spice-linguistics/
- Published: 2025-09-02T05:31:31.000Z
- Updated: 2025-09-02T05:31:31.000Z
- Description: What the words “pumpkin spice” teach us about language change and indigenous history
- Author: Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.
- Tags: Newsletter, etymology, language demographics, language endangerment, Massachusett, Latin, French, Indo-European, Proto-Indo-European, Greek, metathesis

It’s officially pumpkin spice season (according to Starbucks), which means it’s time to talk about something important: Pumpkin Spice Linguistics.

These two little mouth-watering words—*pumpkin spice*—may not seem like anything special as far as the lexicon of English goes, but if we dig a little deeper, we’ll see that these two words can actually teach us a great amount about language change, language ideology, and Indigenous vs. Western perspectives on history.

In this 20-minute talk, I take you on an etymological adventure through the winding history of these two words—and the people who shaped them. Happy Fall!

This talk was originally presented at [Nerd Nite Edmonton](https://edmonton.nerdnite.com/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) in 2022, and a modified version of it at [Nerd Nite Chicago](https://chicago.nerdnite.com/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) in 2023.

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