How was 辣 used before the Columbian Exchange? I'm assuming the character (and word/morpheme) 辣 is not a recent creation and goes back far in history.

These days it means "chili/chilli", "pepper", "spicy".

But chili peppers only came to China and Asia generally as part of the Columbian Exchange of the 15th and 16th centures.

So I'm wondering in which ways 辣 was used before chilli peppers were known to the Chinese.

Was it used for other kinds of spices? If so, which, and is it still used for those now? Were other things considered "spicy hot" in those earlier times?

For comparison I know the 麻 of 麻辣 has various meanings besides "numbing" and "Sichuan pepper" such as "hemp" and "sesame".
in ancient time, "辛" was used, in lieu of 辣. e.g. in 洪範:

潤下作鹹﹒炎上作苦﹒曲直作酸﹒從革作辛﹒稼穡作甘

http://ctext.org/shang-shu/great-plan/zh?searchu=潤下作鹹，炎上作苦，曲直作酸，從革作辛，稼穡作甘%E3%80%82&amp;searchmode=showall#result

nowadays, dictionary would explain 五味 as 甜﹒酸﹒苦﹒辣﹒鹹, instead of older terms 甘﹒酸﹒苦﹒辛﹒鹹

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&amp;searchid=Z00000159662

i guess the taste 辛 was gotten from 薑 ( ginger ), 花椒 ( Zanthoxylum ); that these two were native chinese plants.

last, the character "辣" is derived from "辛" &amp; "剌"

http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=辣

well, more info:

the book 酉陽雜俎 of 唐 dynasty (618-907) mentioned "胡椒" (pepper) and associated its taste to the terms "辛辣"

酉陽雜俎　卷十八, ~p112 of the pdf file:



胡椒 - pepper

摩伽陁國 - magadha, a kingdom in ancient india

another casual found:

the term "辣椒" (chili pepper) is first used in 漢文大藏經　百癡禪師語錄　卷三 (around 1644-1661):

張空火傘熱難當
何處幽陰可隱藏
莫道太平無款待
濃煎幾碗辣椒湯


http://tripitaka.cbeta.org/J28nB202_003, [0016b07]