Etymology: Stories Behind Some “Drinking” Words
 Alcohol
Queen Cleopatra of Egypt darkened and lengthened her eye-brows with antimony paste, and the Arabic word for this was al-kohl, where al is “the” and kohl is “powered antimony”. This word came into English as alcool, a name for any fine powder or extract. Thus “alcool of wine” was for drinking. It was not until the 19th century that the word alcohol was used only to signify drinking.
Epicure
If you are a lover of good food and wine and if you take a fastidious and sensuous delight in your pleasures, it would be correct to call you an epicure although the use of the word in this sense is a gross slander on the original Epicureans. The Greek philosopher, Epicurus, taught moderation in all things. Pleasure, he said, was the highest good, but the price of every joy, he advised is a certain quota of pain, and so he instructed his pupils in temperance. The English version of the word, however, seized upon the single idea of “pleasure” and now the words epicure and epicurean have the “eat, drink, and be merry” flavor that Epicurus and his followers so deplored.
Lager (beer)
The word originally comes from the German Lager, meaning “storehouse” where the beer is kept until it is mature.
Liquor
The word traces back to a Latin word of exactly the same spelling, although a wider meaning of “a fluid of any kind”. Our word liquid derives from this term through French, as does also the aromatic liqueur that is sometimes sipped after dinner.
Toast
The use of the word toast comes directly from a custom that was common in the time of Shakespeare, when they often put a piece of spiced or toasted bread in certain drinks, notably in wine or ale. Hence today, we drink a toast. The Irish dramatist Richard Steele describes the origin of the custom in a gilded and doubtful anecdote that he wrote in the British Tatler for June 4, 1709. He claims that a gallant gentleman scooped up a cupful of a famous beauty’s bath water and drank her health in it. One of his more fastidious companions remarked that he didn’t like the liquor but would have the toast, that is, the beauty floating in it.
Reference: W. Funk Word Origin, Etymology Dictionary
George Washington: The First Distiller
Founding Father of America and the country’s spirit industry
 George Washington is famous for many reasons. But what is not commonly known about him is that at the end of his life, he was a very successful distiller and entrepreneur. A number of the country’s founding fathers produced beer, wine, or whiskey, but Washington actually sold his spirit. At Mount Vernon, his 8,000-acre plantation just outside of Washington, D.C., he grew a number of crops, including wheat and rye. (He also had over 300 slaves working his farm.) Mostly he traded the grains or ground them using his water-powered gristmill. To store the grains, Washington built a unique 16-sided barn. Washington exported his flour to markets as distant as England and Portugal.
But Washington’s Scottish farm manager, James Anderson, convinced the former president to turn some of his crops into whiskey. In 1797, Washington constructed out of local stone a 2,250 square-foot distillery near his gristmill that produced 11,000 gallons of whiskey. It was one of the country’s largest distilleries. In 1799, the whiskey brought in $7,500, a very handsome profit.
And it was a good time to be in the whiskey business because adult Americans on average drank gallons and gallons of alcohol a year.(Spirits were generally served with meals at Mount Vernon.) Domestic liquor was also in high demand because the British had cut off the country’s supply of rum and molasses from the Caribbean. As a result, Washington’s whiskey was a best seller, and it sold as quickly as he could make it. Unfortunately, the distillery was only in business for a short time. Just three years after Washington’s final presidential term, he died 48 hours after the onset of a sudden throat infection, the distillery shut down shortly thereafter.
Until a few years ago, very little was left of the distillery. In 1997, 200 years after its construction, archeologists discovered the site, and a few years later, with $2.1 million grant from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, work began to reconstruct the facility. In September 2006, the handsome wood and stone building was officially dedicated. You can now visit the working distillery, which is also the home of the first museum dedicated to American distilling. It sits just below the reconstructed gristmill on the banks of the Dogue Run Creek.
A number of well-known bourbon distillers were on hand for the dedication, including Wild Turkey’s Eddie Russel and Maker’s Mark’s Bill Samuels, Jr. They were also there to run a small pot still and to hand-bottle a special rye that had been distilled and aged at Mount Vernon. And in ironic twist, even the British royals, Washington’s old nemesis were on hand to offer congratulations. Prince Andrew the Duke of York accepted a bottle of the Mount Vernon whiskey and praised the work of Washington’s Scottish farm manager. Appropriately, after the ribbon was cut, the crowd toasted Washington with whiskey and splashed the building with the rest of their drinks.
Pogue, D.J., and E.C. White. 2005. George Washington’s Gristmill at Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon, VA: The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.
|
