The Word Commonly Called Vulgar
October 24, 2018
It took me forever to figure out the word "vulgar" in the original definition of the word "cocktail" doesn't mean tacky and offensive, but "common."
The word "vulgar" comes up a lot in old texts - and in Latin plant and animal taxonomy- so I thought I'd share this simple bit of info in case it's helpful.
The 1806 first printed definition of a cocktail is,
"Cock tail, then in a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters it is vulgarly called a bittered sling, and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion inasmuch as it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same time that it fuddles the head."
"Vulgarly" means "commonly."
And in yesterday's post about artemisia species, we learned that mugwort's Latin botanical name is Artemisia Vulgaris.
Translation: Common Wormwood.
So I hope that comes in as useful for you as it did for me when I finally figured it out a few years back. For me, it's come up a lot.
Below see the "dated" definition.
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