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Eau de Vie

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Brandy. A French translation of the Latin aqua vitœ (water of life). This is a curious perversion of the Spanish acqua di vite (water or juice of the vine), rendered by the monks into aqua vitœ instead of aqua vitis, and confounding the juice of the grape with the alchemistsʹ elixir of life. The same error is perpetuated in the Italian acqua vite; the Scotch whisky, which is the Celtic uisc-lyf; and the Irish usque-baugh, which is the Gaelic and Irish uisgœ-beatha. (See Aqua VitÆ.)

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Easter-day Sun
Easter Eggs
Eat
Eat not the Brain
Eat not the Heart
Eat One’s Heart Out (To)
Eats his Head Off (The horse)
Eating One’s Terms
Eating Together
Eau de Cologne
Eau de Vie
Eaves-dropper
Ebionism
Ebionites
Eblis or Ibleis
Ebony
Ebudæ
Ecce Homo
Ecce Signum
Eccentric
Eccentric Sensation

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Aqua Vitæ [water of life]