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LIQUEURS.
I.
Derivation of
Term
—
Eichhoff—
Gregory
of
Tours
—
Liqueur
Wines
—
Herb
Wines
—
Scot's
Ivanhoe
—
Hydromel
—
Murrey
—
Delille
—
Montaigne
—
Monastical
Liqueurs
—
Arnold
de
Villeneuve
Catherine
de
Medicis
—
Elixir
Ratafia.
THK
word
liqueur
has
been
traced
by
Eichhoff
to
a
Sanskrit
root,
viz.,
laks
or
lauc^
to
see,
appear.
It
is
now
commonly
understood
of
a
drink
obtained
by
distillation,
a
beverage
of
which
alcohol
is
the
base.
To
the
ancients
liqueurs
appear
to
have
been
un-
known.
The
art
of
distillation
on
which
they
depend
was
not
apparently discovered
till
the
middle
ages.
Fermented
wines,
of
which
some
description
will
be
found
in
another
part
of
this
book,
occupied
their
place
at
dinner
and
dessert
Old
Falernian
when
mixed
with
honey
probably
bore
some
near
resemblance
to
what
is
now
understood
by
liqueur.
But
this
drink
was
found
to
have
such
disastrous
effects
by
way
of
intoxication
that
it
was
forbidden
to
women
to
drink
of
it.
Our
ancestors,
perhaps
in
imitation
of
the
ancients,
composed
a
sort
of
liqueur
with
the
must
of
wine,
in
is6