firewater

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A calque of a Native American language term, probably Ojibwe ishkodewaaboo (“alcohol”), from ishkodew- (“fire”) + -aaboo (“liquid”, glossed in older works as “water”). A number of other Algonquian, Siouan and Athabaskan languages also refer to whiskey with compounds that mean "fire-water" (on which basis noted Algonquianist Leonard Bloomfield even reconstructed a Proto-Algonquian word for it, *eškwete·wa·po·wi, although this cannot have existed). The motivation of the name is not entirely clear: It may refer to the “burning” feeling of ingesting high-proof alcohol, or to its flammability; alternatively, it may refer to how low-quality spirits also often included ingredients such as pepper, which burned. Non-alcohol-related senses are simply fire + water.

14 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Czech: ohnivá voda — high-proof alcoholic beverage
• Danish: ildvand — high-proof alcoholic beverage
• Dutch: vuurwater — high-proof alcoholic beverage
• Finnish: tuliliemi — high-proof alcoholic beverage
• German: Feuerwasser — high-proof alcoholic beverage
• Low German: Füerwater — high-proof alcoholic beverage
• Low German: Füerwoter — high-proof alcoholic beverage
• Portuguese: aguardente — high-proof alcoholic beverage
• Russian: огненная вода (ognennaja voda) — high-proof alcoholic beverage
• Lower Tanana: kwn' tu' — high-proof alcoholic beverage
• Finnish: tulistettu vesi — high temperature hydraulic condensate
• Dutch: bluswater — water for use in firefighting
• French: eau d'extinction — water for use in firefighting
• German: Löschwasser — water for use in firefighting