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mented
'wax'
or
'honey-comb
water,'
and
in
a
history
of
beer
it
stands
conspicuous
as
the
most
primitive
form
of
fermented
liquor,
manufactured
by
prehistoric
man
even
before
he
cul-
tivated
cereals,
before
he
knew
how
to
bake
bread
with
the
aid
of
yeast,
and
before
he
understood
how
to
brew
beer
out
of
cereals
or
bread.
'''
* *
"Pliny
has
left
us a
Keltic
expression
for
a species of
cereal
which
is
of
fundamental
significance
for
the
history
of
beer.
It
is
the
word
'brace.'
'The
Gauls,'
he
remarks
XVIII,
II,
'have
a
kind
of
spelt
peculiar
to
that
country.
They
give
it
the
name
(tf
'brace.'
"While
this
Keltic
word,
therefore,
means
above
all
a
species
of
cereals,
spelt,
or
a
variety
of
wheat,
which
because
of
its
very
white
flour
was
employed
mainly
for
brewing
beer,
it
came
about
that
this
name
for
a
cereal
beca'me
also
the
name
for
the
inash
material, the
malted
'brace,'
or
malt,
but
this
malt,
'the
soul
of
beer,'
as
it
has
been
termed
by
several
writers,
became
the
patent
name
for
a
whole
number
of
popular
expressions,
all
of
them
intimately
connected
with
the
jirocess
of
brewing,
with
the
ac-
tivity
of the
brewer,
and
with
the
calling
or profession
of
the
brewer.
"This
Keltic
'brace'
—
so
designated
by
Pliny
—
is:
Irish
for
malt:
brae,
brath,
brach,
genit,
braich,
or
bracha,
corresponding
with
Welsh
and
t'ornish:
brag,
whence
Welsh
bragaud
(a
kind
of
beer).
Old English
bragot
(a
kind
of
beer).
Modern
English
bracket
(a
kind
of
beer),
and
means
in
all
Keltic
tongues
'malt.'
"From
this
Keltic
parent
word
are
derived
the
Latinized
words
of
the
early
and
later
middle
ages
whereof
we
cite
a
few:
Bracium
:
crushed
malt,
mash
materials;
bracium pressum
crushed
malt,
mash
materials;
brasina
:
malt
mill;
braceator,
braxator:
the
brewer;
braxatorium,
bracitorium
:
the
brewery.
"And
in
modern
French,
'brasser,'
to
brew
;
'bras.serie,'
brewery;
'brasseur,'
brewer;
'brassin,'
the
brew;
and
'brai,'
'bray,'
'brais'
(Old
French),
malt,
crushed
malt.
"Derived
from
the
Irish
'brach'
and
the
Welsh
'brag,'
'bragio'
sprout,
we
find
a
kind
of
aromatic
and
sweetened
ale,
the
'bracket,'
or
'bragaut,'
sweetened
with
honey.
'Rragget
Sunday'
is
Mid-Lent
Sunday,
when
it
was
the
custom
to
celebrate
with
'bragget.'
The
Irish
'bruighfer'
in
olden
times
was
a
public
functionary,
and
at
the
same
time
public
hospitaller.
"
'Braga,'
'bragga,'
'braka'
are
also
beers
of
the
Cossaks,
Tai'tars,
Ruthenians,
etc.
"The
Keltic
has
the
same
root
word
for
'to
brew'
as
the
Anglo-Saxon:
breowan
;
Old
High
(German:
briuwan;
Gothic:
briggwan;
Old
Norse: brugga;
Middle
High
German:
bruwan;
Modern
English:
to
brew;
Modern
German:
brauen.