A few things

[e_juliana]

1) I love the Internets.

2) I love etymology.

3) I love booze.

Therefore, I present to you this most pleasing entry from answers.com:

whis·key also whis·ky (hwĭs'kē, wĭs'-)
n., pl. -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.
[Shortening and alteration of USQUEBAUGH.]

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.

Indeed.

(Also, dumb me, I forgot to add that I love Gaelic. Well, to listen to it. Can't speak it, obviously...)

Comments

[smonsterbite.livejournal.com]

And I love YOU!

Thanks for this.

[e-juliana.livejournal.com]

Geeky boozehounds untie! Or unite! Whichever!

(Love you too)

[mskat.livejournal.com]

It's so great that you posted that. Lori and I just did a tour of Bushmills where they had a little video about uisce beatha which became Whiskey because the invaders (normans I think, but potentially romans, though damn, they are hundreds of years apart) couldn't pronounce uisce beatha. (and neither can I, but it does sound like Whiskey).

[susano.livejournal.com]

Around here it sounds like Ushka Bah-ha. But the Irish and the Scots have a way of taking the same word and making it sound completely different.

[cass404.livejournal.com]

Fun!

If I don't make it up to SF before I move northwards (and really, when do I honestly think I am going to have the time?), I am immediately planning my trip back down to visit. Unless I find some just really kicky deal on a flight. And then? Batten the hatches, baby.

[pix-kristin.livejournal.com]

That IS cool!

Know what I love? That I'm going to meet you in person next week!

[hackerguitar.livejournal.com]

Nice. "Usquebaugh" aptly describes it.

Signed, going home for some highland malt.