metheglin

missanthropist commented on the word metheglin

A fermented liquor made of honeyed water, obtained by thoroughly washing the comb, when drained of the honey. in a high~class brew, the comb is sometimes washed in a little fresh beer to hasten the fermentation, but the strength of the liquor is dependent upon the quantity of honey it contains. Metheglin, when well made and refined and matured by age, is a cordial of no mean order~ a homely liqueur of potent quality.

Georgina Jackson, Shropshire Word~Book, 1879

February 4, 2009

chained_bear commented on the word metheglin

"The Mutiny Act of 1703 stipulated that soldiers should be billeted in 'inns, livery stables, ale houses, victualling houses, and all houses selling brandy, strong-waters, cyder or metheglin to be drunk on the premises, and in no other, and in no private houses whatsoever'."

—Annabel Venning, Following the Drum: The Lives of Army Wives and Daughters Past and Present (London: Headline, 2005), 61

May 5, 2010

myroblyte commented on the word metheglin

Cf. St. Augustine, De trin., book X, para. 2, "If then, for example, any one were to ask, What is metheglin (for I had instanced this word already), and it were said to him, What does this matter to you? He will answer, Lest perhaps I hear some one speaking, and understand him not; or perhaps read the word somewhere, and know not what the writer meant. Who, pray, would say to such an inquirer, Do not care about understanding what you hear; do not care about knowing what you read? For almost every rational soul quickly discerns the beauty of that knowledge, through which the thoughts of men are mutually made known by the enunciation of significant words; and it is on account of this fitness thus known, and because known therefore loved, that such an unknown word is studiously sought out. When then he hears and learns that wine was called metheglin by our forefathers, but that the word is already quite obsolete in our present usage of language, he will think perhaps that he has still need of the word on account of this or that book of those forefathers. But if he holds these also to be superfluous, perhaps he does now come to think the word not worth remembering, since he sees it has nothing to do with that species of learning which he knows with the mind, and gazes upon, and so loves." Translation source: NewAdvent.org (http://j.mp/brxU7Q), which uses the Latin word temetum for metheglin.

June 8, 2010

chained_bear commented on the word metheglin

"Potent mead and its spicier cousin metheglin were also brewed, often stirred with the leaves of sweet briar or rosemary for flavour. So much were these pungent flavours an accepted part of life that even the village poor were accustomed to seasoning their ale with pennyroyal, mint, wormwood, sage or even horseradish, and for those rich enough to distil their own spirits clarrey could be made from sweetened wine fortified with aqua ardaunt."

--Kate Colquhoun, Taste: The Story of Britain Through Its Cooking (NY: Bloomsbury, 2007), 78

January 8, 2017

Gammerstang commented on the word metheglin

(noun) - (1) A fermented liquor made of honeyed water, obtained by thoroughly washing the "comb," when drained of the honey; in a high class brew the "comb" is sometimes washed in a little "fresh beer" to hasten the fermentation; but the strength of the liquor is dependent upon the quantity of honey it contains. Metheglin, when well made, and refined and matured by age, is a "cordial" of no mean order - a homely "liqueur" of potent quality.

--Georgina Jackson's Shropshire Word-Book, 1879

(2) A spiced or medicated variety of mead, originally peculiar to Wales.

--Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1908

January 16, 2018