metheglin

English

Alternative forms

• methiglum

Etymology

From Welsh meddyglyn, from meddyg (“doctor, healer”) (from Latin medicus) + llyn (“liquor”) (cognate with Irish lionn and Gaelic leann).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɪˈθɛɡlɪn/, /ˈmɛθəɡlɪn/, /mɛˈθɛɡlɪn/

Noun

metheglin (countable and uncountable, plural metheglins)

1. A spiced mead, originally from Wales.
   • 1985 June 6, “Opinion: Topics: Lean and Rich History: Ancient Eatings”, in New York Times‎^[1], retrieved 2023-12-15, Section A, page A26:

     A more practical critic notes that paleolithic man had a very sweet tooth, which he sated with honey. Worse, he moonshined the honey into metheglin, an alcoholic brew. Booze and junk food, in other words, are hardly modern inventions.

   • 1988, Anthony Burgess, Any Old Iron:

     But Gwen behind the bar said: ‘Try this, mead it is called.’ Reg admired the pure long high front vowel. Sack mead and sack metheglin. A scholarly man, tall and in leggings, his face a map of purple rivery veins, said: ‘Well, it’s the Welsh national drink, or was. Should properly be meddyglyn, liquor being llyn and meddyg from medicus, the healer'.

   • 2001, David Alan Woolsey, Libations of the Eighteenth Century: A Concise Manual for the Brewing of Authentic Beverages from the Colonial Era of America, and of Times Past:

     In Digbie's era metah, metheglin, and melomel were probably considered synonyms. […] "Melomel" today usually means a mead flavored with any fruit juice other than apples or pears. Peaches, cherries, blackberries, or plumbs^[sic] are some good, historic choices.

Anagrams

• helmeting