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Old Grand-Dad Bourbon. Old Overholt Rye. Old Crow Bourbon. George Dickel No. Whiskey Comparisons Reviews Rantings Menu. Why is Alcohol Called Spirits. Alan Martin. So there is no logical or etymological reason to suppose that the term spirits has ever referred to alcohol in general.
It refers to one type of alcohol, and that type is not even the most common form by volume. Beer represents a form of alcohol which will not even ignite. Likewise, wine is not flammable. The types of alcohol which will ignite include a wide range of industrial alcohols, many of which are actually poisonous to humans, such as speaking of spirits methylated spirits "meths".
Whisky is quite expensive, even today: in historical periods in England, most people could not have afforded to set light to their drink! Nor would want to. So there is actually no reason to suppose that some forms of alcohol are termed spirits because our Victorian forebears enjoyed watching their drink go up in flames! You are looking for an etymological link between the word 'spirit', as in drinkable 'spirit', and the word 'spirit', as in "soulish" 'spirit'.
Thus, the latter can, therefore, be said to be of the holy spirit. The 5th century, BC, Greek Philosopher, Euenos, suggested that wine should be diluted to not cause "grief, or madness".
He said that to make wine sound, it should be mixed with water. The wine that Jesus miraculously made at the wedding at Cana was most likely a mixture of a more recent, sweeter, wine and water. It had less alcohol and tasted better than the host's wine mixture, which was stronger, and less tasting.
The reason it was stronger and less tasting was because all of the sugar in the wine had been converted to alcohol. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Is alcohol called spirits due to linking of imagery? Ask Question. Asked 4 years, 10 months ago. Active 3 years, 11 months ago.
Viewed 36k times. Alcohol burns with a wavering blue flame that looks almost ethereal. Spirits are often pictured as blue and wavering think of the will-o'-the-wisps in brave. Improve this question. Mirte Mirte 1 1 gold badge 7 7 silver badges 13 13 bronze badges. Will-o-the-wisps may be a special case however, given that they are an anthropomorphisation if that's the right word of a natural phenomenon which involves either a flame or 'pre-combustion halos' known as cold flames.
Even if the scientific explanations are still disputed to some extent, folklore explains them as ghostly flames and artistic depictions deliberately render them flame-like. Spagirl Very true! However many other spirits are dipicted in a similiar manner.
Huh, and I always thought it was because it put you in in good spirits — DasBeasto. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. The vapor given off and collected during an alchemical process as with distillation of alcohol was called a spirit of the original material: From late 14c. Improve this answer.
Note that the same thing has happened in German. Three martinis and you're visited by poltergeists. DavidRicherby - the spirit, the immaterial essence coming from the distilled material. Spirit is from the Latin for "breath", i. LeeDanielCrocker Which in turn is a reflection of the ancient belief that one's breath and one's soul are the same thing.
One theory is that the word alcohol is derived from al-ghawl. This is the most straightforward way to link alcohol and spirits, as the word means spirit. The other theory links it to ancient eyeliner. Please allow me to explain. The black mineral stibnite is very fine powdery substance that was once used as an eyeliner. Because the process somewhat resembles distillation, some believe it became a generalized term for distilled substances.
Here are some examples from the dictionary on their usage:. They point to their similarity in sound, speculating this could have led to confusion between the two words when they were transliterated over the years--something that is very easy two dew to do. The views expressed are those of the author s and are not necessarily those of Scientific American. Layla Eplett writes about the anthropology of food. She has a Masters in Social Anthropology of Development from the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies and loves getting a taste of all kinds of culture--gastronomic, traditional, and sometimes accidentally, bacterial.
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