1938 Famous New Orleans Drinks and how to mix'em (3rd printing) by Stanley Clisby Arthur

"Bartlett in his Dictionary of Americanisms gives the following: 'Cocktail. A stimulating beverage, made of brandy, gin, or other liquor, mixed with bitters, sugar and a very little water. A friend thinks this term was suggested by the shape which the froth, as a glass of porter, assumes when it flows over the sides of a tumbler containing the liquid effervescing.' He quotes the fol lowing from the New Yor\ Tribune of May 8, 1862: 'A bowie-knife and a foaming cocktail.' In Yorkshire dia lect, cocktail describes beer that is fresh and foaming. "Brewer in A Dictionary of Phrase-and Fable, follow ing the definition of cocktail, adds the note: 'The origin of the term is unknown: the story given in the New York World (1891) to the effect that it is an Aztec word, and that "the liquor was discovered by a Toltec noble, who sent it by the hand of his daughter Xochitl," to the king who promptly named it "xoctl," whence "cocktail" is a good specimen of the manufacture of popular etymologies.' "As you will see from the foregoing, altho many theories have been advanced as to the ctymoloey of the term cocktail, these, like most etvmologies of the kind, are mere flights of fancy, and while they make interest ing reading, cannot be accepted as reliable." After careful analysis of Doctor Vizetelly's data it ap pears to be certain that the odd mispronunciation of coquetier in New Orleans is the oldest and most positive basis for the word "cocktail." Monsieur Peychaud, glass in hand we salute you? A votre santSl An interesting tale bearing upon the use of the word cocktail in Old New Orleans is to be found in a book written by a German traveler over a century ago. The author was Henry Didimus, and his book. New Orleans

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