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Aqua vitae
 
 
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Aqua vitae (Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
, “water of life”) is an archaic name for a concentrated aqueous solution
Aqueous solution

An aqueous solution is a solution in which the solvent is water. It is usually shown in chemical equations by appending to the relevant formula....
 of ethanol
Ethanol

Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatility , flammable, colorless liquid....
. The term originated in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
 and was originally used as a generic name for all types of distillates. It eventually came to refer specifically to distillates of alcoholic beverages.

Aqua vitae was typically prepared by distilling wine
Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
; it was sometimes called “spirits of wine” in English texts.






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Aqua vitae (Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
, “water of life”) is an archaic name for a concentrated aqueous solution
Aqueous solution

An aqueous solution is a solution in which the solvent is water. It is usually shown in chemical equations by appending to the relevant formula....
 of ethanol
Ethanol

Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatility , flammable, colorless liquid....
. The term originated in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
 and was originally used as a generic name for all types of distillates. It eventually came to refer specifically to distillates of alcoholic beverages.

Aqua vitae was typically prepared by distilling wine
Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
; it was sometimes called “spirits of wine” in English texts. “Spirits of wine” was a name for brandy
Brandy

Brandy is a distilled_beverage produced by Distillation wine, the wine having first been produced by Fermentation grapes. Brandy contains 36%?60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink....
 that had been repeatedly distilled.

A local translation of aqua vitae was often applied to an important local distilled spirit. Thus, we have whisky
Whisky

Whisky or whiskey refers to a broad category of Distilled beverages that are distilled from Fermentation grain Mashing and aged in wooden casks ....
 in Scotland (from Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language

Scottish Gaelic is a member of the Goidelic languages branch of Celtic languages. This branch also includes the Irish language and Manx language languages....
, uisge-beatha) , whiskey in Ireland (from Irish
Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic languages of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people....
, uisce beatha
Uisce Beatha

Uisce beatha is the name given by Ireland monks of the 6th century to the drink they had concocted. Simply an Irish language translation of the Latin aqua vitae , uisce beatha is more commonly known today in its anglicized form, whiskey....
) , eau de vie
Eau de vie

An eau de vie is a clear, colorless brandy#fruit brandy that is produced by means of fermentation and double distillation. The fruit flavor is typically very light....
 in France, and akvavit
Akvavit

Akvavit is a flavored Distilled beverage that is produced in Scandinavia and typically contains 40% alcohol by volume. Its name comes from aqua vitae, the Latin for ?water of life,? and is pronounced /AHKV?-veet/....
 in Scandinavia.

When the term is used in England, it usually refers to French brandy
Brandy

Brandy is a distilled_beverage produced by Distillation wine, the wine having first been produced by Fermentation grapes. Brandy contains 36%?60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink....
.

Aqua vitae was also known in Slavic lands. It appears in Polish
Polish language

Polish , an official language of Poland, has the largest number of speakers of any West Slavic languages. Polish-speakers use the language in a uniform manner through most of Poland, and it has a regular orthography....
 okowita, Ukrainian
Ukrainian language

Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic languages of the Slavic languages. It is the official language of Ukraine. In some areas of Russia there are dialects, Balachka or Surzhyk, which are the Ukrainianized versions of the Russian language....
 ??????? (okovita), Belarusian
Belarusian language

The Belarusian language, or Belorussian is the language of the Belarusians and is spoken in Belarus and abroad, chiefly in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland....
 ??????? (akavita), and as ??????? (yakovita) in southern Russian
Russian language

Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe....
 dialects.

See also