also whis·ky (hwĭsˈkē, wĭsˈ-)
noun pl. whis·keys also
whis·kies - An alcoholic liquor distilled from grain, such as corn, rye, or barley, and containing approximately 40 to 50 percent ethyl alcohol by volume.
- A drink of such liquor.
Word History: Many connoisseurs of fine whiskey wouldn't dream of contaminating their libations with water, but they really can't avoid it. Not only is water used in distilling whiskey, but the words
whiskey and
water share a common Indo-European root,
*wed-, “water, wet.” This root could appear in several guises, as
*wed-, *wod-, or
*ud-. Water is a native English word that goes back by way of prehistoric Common Germanic
*watar to the Indo-European suffixed form
*wod-ōr, with an
o. Whiskey is a shortened form of
usquebaugh, which English borrowed from Irish Gaelic
uisce beatha and Scottish Gaelic
uisge beatha. This compound descends from Old Irish
uisce, “water,” and
bethad, “of life,” and meaning literally “water of life.” (It thus meant the same thing as the name of another drink,
aquavit, which comes from Latin
aqua vītae, “water of life.”)
Uisce comes from the Indo-European suffixed form
*ud-skio-. Finally, the name of another alcoholic drink,
vodka, comes into English from Russian, where it means literally “little water,” as it is a diminutive of
voda, “water”—a euphemism if ever there was one.
Voda comes from the same Indo-European form as English
water, but is differently suffixed:
*wod-ā. Whiskey, water, and vodka—etymology can mix a potent cocktail.
