bllygthrd Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 My wife is polish american ... and I asked her what the polish word was for whiskey ... she replied ... whisky.Sorry, thought it might be more exciting and interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meruck Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 its universal, that is exciting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Whiskey/whisky an anglicization of uisce beatha (Irish) and/or uisge beatha (Gaelic) both of which are translations of the Latin aqua vitae or aquavitae which means water of life. In the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, aquavitae was applied to any distilled spirits, regardless of what it was made of. The French eau de vie, usually used to refer to unaged fruit brandy these days, is also a translation of aquavitae. Thanks for sharing the Polish word! It clearly entered Polish as a loanword from English. It's an interesting case of the same word being translated and re-translated and then re-entering other European languages. Interesting to me anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts