By: Kathryn Whitbourne | Updated: Apr 23, 2021 The origins of the word cocktail is quite as dark as the origin of the thing itself, wrote H.L. Mencken. WIN-Initiative/Getty Images
Probably not long after the invention of liquor, people may have started messing around and adding things to their favorite spirit. We know that by the 1600s, people were fond of alcoholic punches. But the cocktail as we know it is a more recent invention. Here are some other facts that should leave you stirred, but not shaken.
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1. Yes, the Word Cocktail Sounds a Little Dirty With Good Reason
The origins of the word cocktail are pretty murky with several competing theories . But spirits historian David Wondrich (nice job, huh?) says the first mention of the word cocktail was in a British newspaper in 1798. Cock-tail (as the word was styled) was used as a slang term for a ginger drink. Apparently at the time, before a horse sale, a dea