usquebaugh

English

WOTD – 30 November 2024

Etymology

Usquebaugh, now more commonly called whiskey or whisky, in a Glencairn whisky glass.

Borrowed from Irish uisce beatha and Scottish Gaelic uisge beatha (“whiskey or whisky”, literally “water of life”) (a calque of Medieval Latin aqua vītae (“distilled alcohol, liquor”, literally “water of life”)), from Irish uisce, Scottish Gaelic uisge (“water”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water”)) + Irish beatha, Scottish Gaelic beatha (“life”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”)), Doublet of whiskey and whisky.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʌs.kwɪ.bɔː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʌs.kwəˌbɔ/, (cot–caught merger) /-ˌbɑ/
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈuːs.kə.bæ.hə/, /ˈuːʃ-/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈus.kɪ.ba/, /ˈuʃ.kɪ.bɛ/
• Hyphenation: us‧que‧baugh

Noun

usquebaugh (countable and uncountable, plural usquebaughs)

1. (chiefly Ireland, Scotland, dated or archaic) Whiskey or whisky.
   • 1600 October 4 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Robert Cecil, “[Letter] X”, in John MacLean, editor, Letters from Sir Robert Cecil to Sir George Carew (Camden Series; 88), [London]: […] [John Bowyer Nichols and Sons] for the Camden Society, published 1864, →OCLC, page 33:

     [R]emember the Lo[rd] Admyrall [Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham] and the Lord Threasurer [Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset] with a couple of Pugges or some vscough baugh or some such toyes, it would shew that you do not neglect them, whoe, I protest, are to you wonderfull kynde.

   • c. 1613–1616 (date written), Fra[ncis] Beaumont, Jo[hn] Fletcher, The Scornful Ladie. A Comedie. […], London: […] [John Beale] for Myles Partrich, […], published 1616, →OCLC, Act II, signature E, recto:

     [I]f you ſcape vvith life, and take a fagot boat, and a bottle of Vſquebaugh, come home poore men, like a type of Theames Street ſtinking of pitch and poore Iohn.

   • 1658, Tho. Mouffet [i.e., Thomas Muffet, et al.], “The Theater of Insects: Or, Lesser Living Creatures. […]. Chapter V. Of the Name, Difference and Use of Honey.”, in J[ohn] R[owland], transl., The History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents: […], revised edition, London: […] E. Cotes, for G[eorge] Sawbridge […], T. Williams […], and T. Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 913:

     The Iriſh prepare a diſtilled Oenomeli made vvith Honey, VVine and ſome herbs, vvhich they cal Vſquebach, not unfit for a nation that feeds on fleſh ravv, or but half ſod.

   • 1762, [Samuel] Foote, The Orators. […], Dublin: […] Thomas Richey, […], →OCLC, Act III, page 54:

     But as to uſquebagh; ah long life to the liquor—it is an exhilirator of the bovvels, and a ſtomatic to the head; I ſay, Mr. Preſident, it invigorates, it ſtimulates, it—in ſhort it is the onlieſt liquor of life, and no man alive vvill die vvhilſt he drinks it.

   • 1790 (date written; published 1791), Robert Burns, “Tam o’ Shanter. A Tale.”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, 2nd edition, volume II, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, page 201:

     VVhat dangers thou canſt make us ſcorn! / VVi' tippeny, vve fear nae evil; / VVi' uſquabae, vve'll face the devil!— […]

   • 1818, William Hazlitt, “Lecture VII. On Burns, and the Old English Ballads.”, in Lectures on the English Poets. […], London: […] [T. Miller] for Taylor and Hessey, →OCLC, page 260:

     He [Robert Burns] might have traced his habit of ale-house tippling to the last long precious draught of his favourite usquebaugh, which he took in the prospect of bidding farewel for ever to his native land; […]

   • 1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VI, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume III (A Legend of Montrose), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 269:

     [A]re the Gael to-day of softer flesh or whiter blood than their fathers were? Knock the head out of a cask of usquebae, let that be their night gear— […]

   • 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 8.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 278:

     [W]hat does my noble captain drink—is it brandy, rum, usquebaugh? Is it soaked gunpowder, or blazing oil? Give it a name, heart of oak, and we'd get it for you, if it was wine from a bishop's cellar, or melted gold from King George's mint.

   • 1882, [Mary Elizabeth Braddon], “Cupid and Psyche”, in Mount Royal […], volume I, London: John and Robert Maxwell […], →OCLC, page 214:

     ["]But, oh, I hope the dear old lady will get well very quickly." / "If usquebaugh can mend her, no doubt the recovery will be rapid," answered the Major, laughing.

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 9: Scylla and Charybdis]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 190:

     You’re darned witty. Three drams of usquebaugh you drank with Dan Deasy's ducats.

   • 1981, T[homas] Coraghessan Boyle, “The Niger [You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down]”, in Water Music […] (An Atlantic Monthly Press Book), Boston, Mass.; Toronto, Ont.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 70:

     The drowned man was naked from the waist down and wrapped in a sodden cape. / "Get some blankets round him, Shem. And hand me the usquebaugh." / "The usquebaugh? That's as like to kill him off as bring him round." / It was a home brew, potent as fire.

   • 1993, Anthony Burgess, “Part 2”, in A Dead Man in Deptford, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN, page 183:

     Kit coughed over a noggin of usquebaugh.

Alternative forms

• uskebeaghe, usquebath (obsolete)
• usquabae, usquebae, whiskybae (chiefly Scotland, obsolete)

Derived terms

• usque

Translations

whiskey, whisky — see whiskey

Further reading

• whisky on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Yola

Alternative forms

• usbaugh

Etymology

Borrowed from Irish uisce beatha.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʊs.kwɛˈbɔːɡ/, /ʊsˈbɔːɡ/

Noun

usquebaugh

1. Irish whiskey
   • 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 3, page 94:

     An gooude usquebaugh ee-sarith uth in cooanès.

     And good whiskey served out in wooden cans.

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 74