Etymology:
Ultimately Arabic, ʿaraq sweat, juice, especially in ʿaraq at-tamr
‘the (fermented) juice of the date,’ whence extended to all sorts of
fermented beverages.
A name applied in Eastern countries to any spirituous liquor of native
manufacture; especially, that distilled from the fermented sap of the
coco-palm, or from rice and sugar, fermented with the coco-nut juice. (OED)
"The expo was as much a social affair as a scientific endeavor: as patrons wandered through exhibits about sanitation and sewers, they gulped mint juleps and spiked arrack punch and kumiss (fermented mare's milk produced by horses on-site) and generally had a gay old time."
- Sam Kean, The Violinist's Thumb and Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by our Genetic Code
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