aqua vitae

aqua vitae

See also: aqua vitæ

English

Alternative forms

• aqua vitæ

Etymology

From Middle English aqua vite, from Latin aqua vītae, from aqua (“water”) and vītae (“of life”), hence “water of life”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌeɪkwə ˈvaɪti/, /ˌækwə ˈviːteɪ/

Noun

aqua vitae (countable and uncountable, plural aquae vitae)

1. (alchemy) An aqueous solution of alcohol typically prepared by distilling wine.
2. (chemistry, archaic) A concentrated aqueous solution of ethanol.
3. (beverages, archaic) French brandy or cognac.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare,  […] [T]he Merrie Wiues of Windsor. […] (First Quarto), London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for Arthur Ihonson, […], published 1602, OCLC 670741489, [Act II, scene ii]:

     Ile ſooner truſt an Iriſhman with my / Aquauita bottle, Sir Hu[gh Evans] our parſon with my cheeſe, / A theefe to walk my ambling gelding, thẽ my wife / With her ſelfe; […]

Translations

alcohol

Finnish: akvaviitti (fi) French: please add this translation if you can German: Lebenswasser (de) n, Branntwein (de) m Polish: akwawita (pl) f (archaic) Romanian: please add this translation if you can Russian: please add this translation if you can

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Latin

Etymology

Literally “water of life”, from aqua (“water”) and vītae (“of life”), the genitive singular of vīta (“life”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.kʷa ˈu̯iː.tae̯/, [ˈäkʷä ˈu̯iːt̪äe̯]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.kwa ˈvi.te/, [ˈäːkwä ˈviːt̪e]

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

Noun

aqua vītae f sg (genitive aquae vītae); first declension

1. distilled alcohol; spirits

   Synonym: spiritus vini 'spirit of wine'

Declension

First-declension noun with an indeclinable portion, singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	aqua vītae
Genitive	aquae vītae
Dative	aquae vītae
Accusative	aquam vītae
Ablative	aquā vītae
Vocative	aqua vītae

Descendants

Descendants

• Inherited:
  • Romanian: apă vie
• Borrowed or calqued:
• → Danish: akvavit
• → French: eau-de-vie (calque)
  • → English: eau de vie
• → German: Aquavit
• → Icelandic: ákavíti
• → Italian: acquavite
• → Middle English: aqua vite
  • English: aqua vitae
• → Old Irish: (calque)
  • Irish: uisce beatha, Irish: beathuisce
    • → English: usquebaugh, whiskey
  • Scottish Gaelic: uisge-beatha
• → Polish: akwawita (archaic), okowita
  • → Belarusian: акаві́та (akavíta)
  • → Ukrainian: окови́та (okovýta)
• →? Romanian: apă vieții (calque)
• → Swedish: akvavit (calque)
  • → English: aquavit
  • → French: aquavit
  • → Portuguese: aquavit

References

• aqua in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)