Where Alcoholic Drinks Got Their Names | Otherwords
Alcohol has been with humanity since the dawn of civilization, and we use still use some of the same terms for it! Come with us on an etymological journey through the history of drinking.
Otherwords is a PBS web series on Storied that digs deep into this quintessential human trait of language and fınds the fascinating, thought-provoking, and funny stories behind the words and sounds we take for granted. Incorporating the fıelds of biology, history, cultural studies, literature, and more, linguistics has something for everyone and offers a unique perspective on what it means to be human.
Host: Erica Brozovsky, Ph.D.
Creator/Director: Andrew Matthews & Katie Graham
Writer: Andrew Matthews
Producer: Katie Graham
Editor/Animation: Andrew Matthews
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
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"There is a theory that humanity settled towns and developed agriculture originally to make alcohol. Alcohol is humanity's friend. Can I abandon a friend?" -Yang Wenli
That's a non sequitur, Wenli ("develop agriculture...to make alcohol" ≠ friendship).. besides, one ought not make prone excuse before well-established concession.
@@nyrdybyrd1702 wow you made that joke way funnier
Yes. It seems liking booze is super old... chimps and other apes really like it when they find fermented fruits... and the habit was observed in other mammals as well...
@@nyrdybyrd1702 You must be fun at parties.
@@hatsuharuboi I read that in Africa elephants will sometimes search out a certain over ripe fermented tree fruit (I forgot which one) and then have raging stampedes through nearby towns, decimating them. Kinda like spring break, pachyderm style.
Erica I love when u do the " ACTUALLY " glasses gesture 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅
Thanks, Dr. BREWzovsky. 😁👍👍
Outtakes - myco-brew: Myco is derived from the ancient Greek word for fungus, and since yeast is a fungus and yeast is what generates the alcohol in beer during the brewing process, I'll allow "myco-brew" as an acceptable alternative. Congratulations Dr. Erica, you invented a new word! :)
"... myco-brew..." Nice. Consider this 'borrowed'
You're just talking about mushroom tea now
Erica, your face during the outtakes when you get frustrated trying to say 'microbrew' is priceless! That's definitely a word that twists the tongue, especially a tongue already affected by a glass of microbrewery beer.
Have you tried making a craft myco-brew?
@@AisuruMirai Is that some sort of beer made from fungi?
@@MorbidEel Google tells me that yeasts are fungi, and since beer is brewed with yeast to make the alcohol, I would say all beers are myco-brews!
@@rmdodsonbills It's true most beer are fermented by yeast, but some (notably sour beers) are fermented at least in part by bacteria.
I don't see anything hard with saying 'microbrew', but I'm Polish so I guess I'm on different scale...
Alcohol in Indic languages is 'mad', 'madya' or 'madira' which comes from Sanskrit 'madira' and means alcohol or intoxicating and that is derived from the Sanskrit word 'madhu' which means honey. I guess fermented honey was the first alcohol of my ancestors. There's also the mahua tree (Madhuca Longifolica) that's flowers are used to produce alcoholic beverage.
The Persian word for wine is mey which is also said to come from the proto-indo European word for honey. I guess it’s possible to deduce that wine production was first made by the Indo-Iranians using honey before they split
In Polish honey is 'miód' (myood) and mead is known as 'miód pitny'. It is the original Polish alcohol that remembers the great ancient woodlands that once covered all of Central Europe.
I totally can see that madhu, mey and miód are related.
Yet your people in india dissmissed the indo european theory? 😅
@@KonradofKrakow The description of woodlands is so beautiful! Does Pitny mean something like drinkable?
In Polish, and possibly other languages as well, mead and honey are the same word - miód. That's why it's more commonly referred to as "miód pitny", "pitny" meaning "drinkable".
Yes. Same in Ukrainian. Mid/mid or Med/med. Depends on a dialect.
In Modern Greek honey is μέλι /mé̞li/ (n.) while mead is υδρόμελο /iðɾó̞me̞lo̞/ (n.) literally liquid-honey. In Ancient Greek it's μελίτειον /me̞lít̠eːo̞n/ (n.) obviously from the word for honey, μέλι.
@@apmoy70 In french we have hydromel, "hydro" being the adjective for water and "mel" meaning honey, coming right from the greek translation of "ὑδρόμελι / hudrómeli". This kind of beverage is at least 9000 yo in China and 7000 in Spain, one of the reasons it's so primitive is that honeys yields its own yeast. (the yeast comes from the pollen but is very variable both in quantity and properties, so the fermenting processes varies, and now we just add the yeast that will match the chosen fermentation process)
Similar words used in india. Strange coincidence. Looks like we are all united by honey. 😂
At least to my knowledge, "mesi" in Finnish is like an archaic word for honey. I had no idea it had anything to do with alcohol!
Finally Scandinavian languages are richly represented in an Otherwords video! Of course it's about alcohol... 😅
We like our alcohol, OK 😂 skål 🍻
But I gotta point out that Finland isnt Scandinavia as pointed to on the map at 3:39 😄
Can't pass up a good beer... then again i don't think we have very good beer in Scandinavia, czech beer is the way to go.
@@latewizard301Either way, you can keep the beer. It stinks and I prefer harder stuff. Then again, cactus fruit based beers I don't mind.
@@LegendStormcrow weak
Otherwords... Easily one of my favorite series on KZhead. Thanks for another great episode!
The german word "Prost", or more formally "prosit" is actually latin and is translated as "it shall be useful". The south german greeting "servus" is also latin. Even tho its used informally, the translation is actually quite formal. Literally it translated as "Slave", but it is to be understood as "at your service" Edit:I wanted to add that servus and service are cognates
I say "prosit" when people sneese. (Bless you)
Relatedly, that's why when a Spanish speaker sees you while you're eating they'll often say "¡buen provecho!" meaning "(I hope it) profits you well" instead of "bon appétit".
Servus comes from the phrase "servus humillimus, domine spectabilis". Such an awesome etymology!
That use of "servus" reminds me of the famous Italian greeting "ciao" which comes from the Latin word for slave
In sweden you might say "Tja" or "Tjenare" as a greeting (from the Word for servant "tjänare") in much the same way I guess
I really enjoy otherwords! 😎
I love so much that you used the correct Latin pronunciation of the letter V!
Mead in Finnish is called "sima". "Mesi" on the other hand is the nectar of the flower the bees drink or the honey the bees make, one of the names Finns have for a bear is "mesikämmen". ( mesi = honey + kämmen = palm of a hand )
Who knew that a deep dive into the etymology of alcoholic drinks would lead to such intoxicating revelations! Cheers to Dr. B for keeping us both educated and thirsty! 🍻🥂📚
I cannot watch an Otherwords video without commenting on how much I like the presenter. Her explanations are so wonderfully clear.
There's actually a popular meadery in my area that makes delicious fermented honey wine. I buy from them every now and then and drink for special occasions. It's really good stuff.
As my grandfather once said: In wine, there is wisdom In beer, there is freedom In water, there is bacteria
Sounds like an alcoholic.
Only once?
*"Water? Never drink the stuff: fish f--- in it..."* - W.C. Fields
Sounds like someone who'd quoted Benjamin Franklin, I've heard that one before
Sounds like your grandfather borrowed that quote from Benjamin Franklin
Mead is making a resurgence these days, especially in the home brew circuit, mainly because it is just so simple to produce. It is also a great way to explore the concept of Terroir as well as brewing methods on the final product.
It’s also goddamn delicious. It’s pretty much the only alcohol except maybe rose cider that I willingly drink
Ive been wanting to make some! Along with it being delicious it can also be a great offering for the Gods especially the germanic ones
We've made wine, beer, and mead. It's SO much fun! I feel like all three of these were probably accidental in their earliest form.
they were
I've tried mead once and it was.... interesting lol I can't say I'd try it again haha at least the brand I had wasn't too great. I prefer my Guinness and occasionally a Whisky (or if I'm out and watching the pennies then Whisky and coke because then I buy the cheap whisky lol)
@@teethgrinder83 if you were wanting to give mead another shot, I'd recommend getting some from Viking Alchemist Meadery (Bliss is the bottle that most people really enjoy!)
@@nickyvee4607 thanks! Edit-it was my ex-partner that bought me it as part of a birthday because she heard me talk about wanting to try it so I'll definitely try and remember and check that kind you mentioned out!
Alcohol names go further than just the use for drinks: in Poland the word for 'tip' is 'napiwek' (which translates as 'for beer', i.e. 'na piwo'), similar to the French 'pourboire' (which translates as 'for drinking', i.e. 'pour boire'). Just shows how alcohol is an ingrained and inseparable element of (at least) European culture.
Another example is the German, Trinkgeld-- "drink money."
@@frigginjerk It's the same in swedish, where we call it "Dricks", from "Dricka", To Drink.
I'm one of those people who brings mead to parties. The reason you don't see it very much commercially is that good honey is a very expensive ingredient and good mead takes years to produce. Yes, some whiskey is aged, but whiskey is made from corn or barley which is much less expensive. No, good wine grapes aren't cheap, but they aren't as expensive as honey, and most wines are meant to be drank young.
"One of those people"? In our family Mead and Scrabble is considered great fun. It is also interesting how vocabulary gets more creative after getting into the second bottle. This is commercial Mead by the way, not homemade. Sometimes it is accompanied by Rum. Mead is family favorite for any occasion.
"Mead and Scrabble" Can I be in your family please?
The outtake at the end is comforting in that it’s good to know that a linguistics professor can have trouth mubbles too.
I could watch your videos all day. So interesting, informative, and well-presented. No idea how you come up with the ideas, but please keep them coming!
The oldest reference of a Margarita in the US is a recipe book in a magazine from about the 50s that references a “popular drink from Mexico” and then lists the Margarita, it’s called Margarita because is a daisy cocktail using Tequila instead of Brandy, the oldest reference of a Margarita in Mexico is from 1930s in Tijuana.
As someone who loves Skyrim, I’m so happy to see the mention of mead 😊💛 It’s always so festive whenever mead is in the picture 😄
Same here, but there's so much awkward clapping in taverns when it's drunk.
@@Emma-if9bf 😆😆😆💀💀💀
Mead is really tasty with raspberries in it!
Redstone Meadery in Boulder, CO, makes a mead with black raspberry nectar. Heavenly!
There are a bunch other terms for mead with things added to it. Mead with fruit is melomel. Mead with spices is metheglin. With apples, it's cyser.
Love this one! Alcohol has made so many of the best words, phrases, and tall tales! And what a journey in time to see how so many of those words relate!
Every "actually" in this series brings me joy
I am a little confused about mesi. I know that it means honey in Estonian (a similar language to Finnish) so it kinda checks out to be included in the video but mesi means the nectar that bees gather from flowers and since the inclusion of the word here seems just kinda weird :D Although the connection to a word meaning originally sweet makes total sense. Anyways, mead is sima in Finnish and it is still commonly drank during Vappu, a holiday on 1st of May. Although nowadays you can also buy it non alcoholic very often from stores.
Finnish and Estonian are not Indo-European languages, so I don’t know how close the kinship is between Estonian/Finnish and English names for mead, honey, and nectar.
One of the best PBS segments!
This is a perfect Bar Quiz episode! 😂💖
Great video. One titbit that should've been mentioned, though, is that many cognates of mead just mean honey, not fermented honey drink, including Japanese mitsu.
Terrific episode! Informative and fun. The cartoon of the guy showing up to a party with mead made me laugh out loud.
It is amazing how far the word for honey went around the areas.
even in faraway Indonesia, it's called "Madu". Crazy to learn that it has the same root as mead.
Amazing video as always, Dr! Cheers!
I love these videos so much! i hope these never stop!
Great video and informative. Well done Dr. Erika. 👏👏
As usual, great job! probably could do three more videos on this subject
"Here's to alcohol: the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems." - Homer Simpson
Great video! Can you point to any sources about the history of "toast" in the drinking context, I'd love to read more!
This was very fun and informative. But, I couldn't help but notice the absence of Rum. The word has no known etymology, but such a complicated history that Wayne Curtis did a great job on. It strikes as a glaring omission in the topic.
A we say in Mexico: "pa' todo mal, mezcal, pa' todo bien, también" [for all that's bad, mezcal, for all that's good, also mezcal]. ¡Salud!
Good video! Only thing I would say though about ‘uisce beatha’ though is that it came from the Irish language - In Ireland, that language is called Gaeilge. Not Gaelic, although that is used in other contexts. They just happen to get confused a lot!
Since both Irish and Scottish share roots and have the term "uisce bheatha" to mean "water of life" it's more a Gael than truly Gaeilge or Gaelic, but the second the term was used it was immediately what I thought of. While I've never been to either country studying some of Irish culture and language did prove fascinating and even that "whiskey" was essentially derived from the term
@@andrewmalinowski6673 I am Irish, and if they are going to use the spelling ‘uisce beatha’ then that’s Gaeilge. If they want to use Gaelic, as in Scots Gaelic, then it’s ‘Uisge beatha’. They are closely related languages, yes, but not the same. Erica and her team used the term Gaelic and then used the Irish spelling of Uisce Beatha. More research is needed. Although the video is very good in other ways.
This would be interesting to learn more about, because I've heard the Scottish, Irish, and Manx languages, as well as their ancestor language all referred to as Gaelic, but knew the term Gaelige. Never actually put two and two together.
Fascinating video, so interesting!
Oh, great!! Dr. B puts out a video on alcoholic beverages the same week I'm taking antibiotics!!! Great timing, Doc!!!
Awesome episode!
Being Macedonian, the “bibere” theory on the origin of the words “beor” and “beer” makes a lot of sense to me, considering the Slavic word for beer, “pivo”, is also an archaic word for beverage
Great video as always. I would have loved to dove more into the influences of early chinese (?) in the name of drinks in Asia, and maybe the World. Such an interesting topic!
Same, I'd love to see more videos looking at other language families and how they treat this topic.
Fascinating video! You're my new fav....love your attempt at humor... you're clever with language history most people won't understand anyway . Anyway totally enjoying your videos.. .thanks
a great smile enhanced the learning
Great episode
I about died laughing when you mentioned 'that person' who brings mead to parties...my partner and I are guilty! But mead is just so tasty, and I don't like the bitter nature of alcohol, really, so mead is often the perfect choice...and everyone should try it at some point! ( All through our 20s we did this, and it was inevitably a hit every time - who doesn't like mead??)
girrrllll, there's a local meadery that makes a delightful apple-pie mead and I bring that to nice dinners.
Mead is great!
Let’s go new video!!!! Love this place!
I love this series! If I would have gone back to school, it would have been for language
Sadly, they're not valued as much as sciences
"A toast to bread! For without bread there would be no toast." Thanks for a little nugget of wisdom to enhance the depth of that old joke.
skål (or kippis, if you’re in the mood for finnish and not swedish)! i really enjoyed this video. it’s always fun to see reconstructed PIE roots. if you ever want to do a super nerdy video about Finnish, look into their loanwords from proto-germanic, before sweden colonised them. many of the germanic-origin loanwords in finnish come from swedish, obviously, but a lot of them, like “kuningas” and “kaunis,” come from pre-swedish colonial contact with germanic-speaking people. or honestly, any video on finnish would be amazing
Skål! Bunden eller resten i håret.
You would have better luck asking the folks at Finnish Public Broadcasting to do that. These videos are produced in the US.
i love this show so much
I have a coworker named Margarita and she had to have her name tag changed to Maggie because people wouldn't stop making jokes
oh man thank goodness I'm not "that guy" who brings mead to the party... I'm just that guy who homebrews it
We need daily episodes of this stuff
9/10 good video, needs more acktsuallys
Oh Doc, you have such a way with words lol
What's wrong with bringing Mead!? I feel attacked lol. All that matters is that it's popular with my friends. Cheers!
I like your intro. It’s like a combo of a groovy 60s/70s beat with some Pink Panther/The Inspector cartoon mixed in.
The only one that irritates me is the A.M.F. because in some places it's called a "Tijuana Taxi" which is a WAY better name for it (IMO).
I love that lipstick. Wow what a fun video! So interesting!!!
Wow, Şerefe ! Not sure but maybe the first time I hear Turkish in the channel, yay ! I'm curious about mead, I think I tasted it once in a bar, but it was too light, tasted more like a fruit beverage than an alcoholic drink. Not sure if it was the good stuff, or I was expecting too much.
If you ever visit western Mexico, the town Tequila is only 40-ish minutes away from the city of Guadalajara, one of the largest in the country. It is definitely worth a visit!
Mead is common in Poland, you can buy it in almost every liquor store or supermarket.
As an American with Polish heritage, I enjoy a glass of Krupnik from time to time.
When I got married in 2011, we had a Midsummer Night's Dream theme & we toasted with mead at the reception as it was more common in Shakespeare's time. It's delicious! 🎉🥂
Great video! Note : Οίνος is not pronounced as O-e-nos, it's pronounced as E-nos. In Greek "οι" is pronounced as "e"
The margarita was named for the flower because it's a twist on an older drink called the daisy, which featured I believe either brandy or congac instead of tequila.
That’s what I have read too. A daisy is a cocktail that uses liqueur as balance/sweetener instead of syrup. The sidecar and the Margarita are both popular examples of a daisy.
"...considering you don't see mead around much these days" Come to Minnesota or Wisconsin, it's prolific here XD XD XD J Bird Wines made it famous again lol
YEAHHH The return of the ACTUALLY!! 🎉
Ale vs lager difference is based on the yeast used and the temperature required for fermentation to keep that yeast alive.
Ale does have medicinal properties. It removes acne, pimples, blackheads and moles from the faces of people you are looking at.
The evidence for it improving eyesight is inconclusive. ;-)
Pisco takes the name from the port town of Pisco in Peru, a crucial route for the Spanish to distribute the spirit at least since 1764. The town's name has probable origins in the Quechua word Pisku.
Glad to see Pulque made it to the video. It´s really delicious, although not for everyone. I highly recommend anyone visting Mexico give it a try.
AAAAKKKKTUAAALY love it!
This was fun. It has been claimed that fermentation preceeded the invention of the wheel. So we learned to drink before we learned to drive.
Fun fact pilsner gets its name not only for the town of Pilsen but for the nightshade plant which grew in abundance. Nightshade was also an ingredient in this local beer till they outlawed them, and mushrooms as well as other.... interesting.... ingredients.
Dr. Brozovsky uses a lot of gesticulations when she speaks. It's awesome. End of message.
History needn't be boring. 💙
Still waiting on an explanation for how so many different planets all settled on jynnan tonnyx
Settle down with a Ouisghian Zodah while you wait...🤣
The word vodka is Polish in origin as well, because it was brought to Russia by merchants in 16th century, over a century after the earliest use of the word was noted in Polish documents.
Love beer, the video & your face
The 'ale' word may be cognate with 'oil' as it's the produce of crushing and mashing, stewing seeds, grains or somesuch.
This is the first someone has mentioned Pulque outside of my family. My grandpa grows maguey and makes Pulque. And since living in the US no one knows about it not even other Mexicans.
I love every time Erica says "akshually" 6:48
Love it
My favorite part is whenever she says "Actually.." and they add some CGI nerd glasses
Mesi in Finnish actually means nectar of a flower. The word you are looking for is "sima". Sima is actually a bit different since it's made from brown sugar, sugar and lemon.
Damn. This was pretty informative.
Not sure why, but this is fascinating! Hahaha
learning Spanish on DuoLingo, and I'm noticing a fair amount of words come straight from Latin, like bread (pan), and to drink (beber)
The only other place you'd find mead is when you're playing Dungeons and Dragons.
Or at the better Renaissance festivals 😂
Try this one “a slow comfortable screw up against a wall in a dark alley in Mexico” it tells you all the different alcohol in this drink.
Bloody Mary is a controversial one as well. Some believe it was an actress that happened upon the drink in France or in Florida. Her name was Mary and she spilled it on herself saying I look, I'm bloody Mary. Then there's the Queen Mary of England that it's takes the name from too😊 because of thirst for Protestant blood.
Now to purge the r as vowel from my memory. Divoja!