What is the earliest known reference to the phrase 'water of life'?
score:8
I believe there's two questions here: what is the earliest use of "aqua vitae" and when did it become synonymous with "distilled spirits". I'm going to answer the latter, when did "aqua vitae" become synonymous with "distilled spirits".
The French "eau de vie", Gaelic "uisce betha", Scandinavian "akvavit", and so on, all have their roots in the Latin "aqua vitae". The OED has the first recorded use in English as 1471.
1471 G. Ripley Compound of Alchymy in Ashm. 1652, 115 "With Aquavite ofttimes, both wash and drie."
My main source is The Quest For Aqua Vitae: The History and Chemistry of Alcohol From Antiquity to the Middle Ages by Seth Rasmussen.
While fermentation has been known since probably 6000 BCE, distillation of alcohol is much trickier. Low quality glass cannot stand the heat, and methods cooling the distillate vapor were inadequate. 13th century Italian improvements in glass making made distillation a much easier process, and higher and higher concentrations of alcohol were possible.
Earlier publications referred to "aqua ardens" (burning water) or "aqua flamens" (flaming water) referencing this thing which looked like water but which burned with a cold flame and gave a giddy sensation upon being drunk. Some thought this was Aristotle's "quintessence" or "aether", the 5th element that made up the heavens. This is also where we get "spirits", alcohol is the pure "spirit" of the wine. We're edging towards "water of life".
The earliest reference I can find to using "aqua vitae" to mean "very strong distilled alcohol" is in the late 13th century by several authors.
Taddeo Alderotti of Florence published De virtutibus aquae vitae as part of Consilia Medicinalia describing the distillation of wine in an alembic and aqua vitae as "of inestimable glory, the mother and mistress of all medicine" and that a little every morning "makes one happy, jocund, and glad". English physician Gilbertus Anglicus was recommending aqua vitae for travelers. And Arnaldus de Villa Nova who said of the name:
This name is remarkably suitable, since it is really a water of immortality. It prolongs life, clears away ill-humours, revives the heart, and maintains youth.
(European chemists have this tendency to gush about drugs.)
So there you have it. To the best of my knowledge, sometime around the late 13th century as the process of distillation became more refined and purer spirits were possible, the term "aqua vitae" became popular among European chemists.
The unrelated term "alcohol" did not come into use until the 16th century. This comes from the Greek "kohl" referring to a finely powdered form of antimony trisulphide used as eye makeup in antiquity. Arabic added their "al" prefix for "al-kohl". It then became a term for very fine powder. Then a fine part of anything. Then anything you pulverized or distilled.
In the mid-1500s, Paracelsus (Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim to his pals) is used "alkohol vini" or "the subtle part of wine" to refer to spirits distilled from wine. The "vini" (wine) part was dropped, and we have the modern "alkohol". Etymologically unrelated to "aqua vitae".
More post
- 📝 Did the Inca Empire know about the Polynesians, or vice versa?
- 📝 Does Hitler's "Mein Kampf" contain hints that he wanted to exterminate Jews on the scale that actually happened?
- 📝 Was there any sort of medieval defensive contraption which dropped rocks on attackers?
- 📝 literature about colonialism
- 📝 Why was the standoff on the Ugra river the end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Russia?
- 📝 Who wrote the "Mi General Augusto Pinochet" Song?
- 📝 What toilet facilities were available at large formal gatherings in 19th century America?
- 📝 When did the Knights Templar dissolve and why?
- 📝 What paintings might these be (2 sketches made in the Tate Britain Gallery)?
- 📝 Legal grounds of functioning of Third Reich concentration camps
- 📝 Could Japan buy natural resources from European colonies before WW2?
- 📝 Was jealousy the cause of Ernst Winter's death?
- 📝 What is the history of Research and Development laboratories?
- 📝 Why did India choose August 15th as its Independence Day?
- 📝 Did the Persian Empire really finance both sides of the Peloponnesian war?
- 📝 When the Portuguese began the exploration of the West African Coast, did they believe the Indian Ocean was an enclosed sea?
- 📝 What was the first ever televised lottery?
- 📝 Is there evidence that Harald Bluetooth died from an arrow to the rear?
- 📝 Did emperor Kangxi indirectly contribute to China's massive population and subsequent problem?
- 📝 How were Aksumite ships constructed?
- 📝 Are the Sabean people of Cushitic or Ethiopian origin?
- 📝 What was the point of hanging in “hanging, drawing, and quartering”?
- 📝 Was the London Blitz accidentally started by lost pilots?
- 📝 Why did Britain object to the Ottomans bringing its ships-of-the-line against Russia in the beginning of the Crimean War?
- 📝 Which floating-point representation did Konrad Zuse's Z1 use?
- 📝 Did Julius Caesar say: "Africa, I have grabbed you"?
- 📝 Why couldn't the Allies clear out D-Day gun emplacements before landing troops?
- 📝 Were there bows employed by tribes living in the desert, and if so, what were they made of?
- 📝 When did people first try to limit which weapons could be used in war?
- 📝 The history of finding longitude
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What is the earliest known reference to the phrase 'water of life'?
- 📝 What is the earliest known account of the modern military salute?
- 📝 What is the earliest reference to "space aliens"?
- 📝 What is the earliest known writing associating the number three with the dimension of the world?
- 📝 What is the earliest known book / novel trilogy in literature?
- 📝 What was the earliest known written constitution?
- 📝 What is the earliest reference to King Arthur being raised by Sir Ector?
- 📝 What is the earliest known "one arrow is easily broken but a bundle of arrows is not" story?
- 📝 What is the earliest recorded reference to a bubble floating in the air?
- 📝 What is the oldest known work of fiction?
- 📝 What is the earliest mention of space travel?
- 📝 What is the earliest evidence of contact between Ireland and Egypt?
- 📝 Japan is known for being isolationist, so what cultivated its history of interventionism in the 20th century?
- 📝 What was the first known war in history?
- 📝 What is the earliest recorded female name in history?
- 📝 What is known about the Ubaid lizard-people figurines?
- 📝 What is known about the possibility of a "real King Arthur"?
- 📝 What is the earliest reliably dated event exact to the year?
- 📝 What is the earliest mention of an estimate of 71% water (or 70.8%) / 29% land (or 29.2%)?
- 📝 What is the oldest known international sporting event?
- 📝 What was the earliest professional recording of "Happy Birthday to You"?
- 📝 What is the earliest evidence for the use of hearing aids?
- 📝 What was the earliest knitted sweater?
- 📝 What is the earliest recorded example of an extradition treaty or law?
- 📝 What is the earliest example of the usage of 'Nazis' to refer clearly and exclusively to the National-Socialists?
- 📝 What is the original German version of Bismarck's phrase about intentions and capabilities?
- 📝 What murals and decor might have been present in the earliest Sumerian temples?
- 📝 What are the earliest examples in history where one state/people stepped in to rescue another?
- 📝 Considering what was known about Hitler in 1933, why would German bishops declare that Catholics could cooperate with the new State?
- 📝 In Studying the peoples of pre-Roman Britain, what are our primary reference sources?