Etymology

Bottoms Up

Alcohol is one of the most popular drinks in the America today. It is sold in bars, at

sporting events, at every grocery store, and is extremely popular in college. However, most

people have no idea how these alcoholic drinks, phrases, and slang got their names. Many of the

alcohol-related words we use today have a much more interesting background than we think.

These alcoholic beverages names have originated in some rather fascinating ways. The

name whisky comes from the Gaelic word usiebeatha meaning "the water of life".This has been

the name for potent spirits since the Romans drank their aqua vitae. The Swedish brand of

whisky is akvavit and the French name is eau de vine. Both the Scotsmen and the Irishmen are

credited for inventing whisky. Whisky became very popular during the time of Henry III.(Morris

609) Vodka is a potent spirit which is only a slight variation of water. It comes from the Russian

word voda. The sale of vodka was suppressed on August 14, 1914, presumably by the Imperial

Russian Government.(Morris 599) Gin was originally called geneva which came from the Dutch

word genever. The British translation for the French word geniever means juniper. This name

was later converted by the Dutch to the name gin. Juniper, or juniper juice as it was commonly

called, was used as an essential ingredient for bathtub gin. Most people did not realize that they

were putting in the ingredient from which the actual drink got its name.(Morris 247) From these

drinks, we have also molded phrases to describe a persons drunkenness.

There are also many phrases we use to describe drunkenness which were formed quite

interestingly. The phrase three sheets in the wind is used to describe a drunk person. The sheet

refers to "the line or chain that is attached to the lower corner of a sail." The tightening up or

slacking off of the chain controls the sail. When the sheet is running free it is said to be "in the

wind". When all three sheets are "in the wind", the sails have no control. The ship then

"wallows and swaggers" like a drunk person.(Morris 335) The phrase half-seas over goes back

before the time of Shakespeare to 1551. The phrase literally means half way across the sea. This

came to mean the same thing as the Latin phrase in medias res, "in the middle of things" or

"halfway through a task." In the 1700s it acquired the meaning more than slightly drunk because

someone who is half-seas over is just past the point of no return.(Morris 270) If a person is drunk

as a lord, than they are extremely drunk. This phrase comes from the time of King George III of

England. In this time, Drunkenness was the mark of a gentleman. " Two and three bottle men

were very common among leaders in society." Formal state dinners quiet often ended with many

lords "collapsed in drunken stupor. Literally under the table."(Morris 194) Lush is a generic term

for beer and other intoxicating drinks. It has been British slang for over a century. It originated

as a contraction of the name of a London actors' club, City of Lushington. The word lush was

used to describe a drunken person. "The term lushed or lushed up to describe a persons

drunkenness has been commonly used in America for the last forty years."(Morris 365) Phrases

like these have lead to the common use of slang words

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