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Cocktail Origin Addendum
In my previous post I spoke about the original of the word cocktail and posted a couple of old scanned newsprint articles discussing the topic. My opinion was that it came from horses, and that got me thinking about a couple of results I received while searching for the word cocktail in Eighteenth Century Collection Online (University access only, sorry). I found the term cocktail used in a horse's name ("No Cocktail") in a book from 1800 detailing the winning horses for 1799.
The source for horses name comes from the following book:
The name of the horse shows up in two publications from the year 1800 and is on a number of pages. A few shown below. But the question is; is this the earliest use of the word “cocktail”? I’ve heard that it usually shows up in 1806, being used for what we know as the drink. I’ll have to ask a few people.
81 Comments on Cocktail Origin Addendum
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I'm just throwing this out there. What if it is really based on a cock's tail? Think about it, maybe a couple of drunkards in a barn back in the 15th or 16th centuries started mixing drinks and needed something to stir it with and all they could find was a rooster's tail feather? So they stirred it and left the tail in, then someone passes by and sees them drinking from a chalice or cup with a "cock's tail" sticking out of it. When they ask what it is, they tell them it’s a mixed drink stirred with a cock's tail and so every mixed drink from then on was considered a cocktail. I would believe that story. The story about the horse, even with the evidence, the only thing linking the horse's "cock's its tail" drink with people is the belief that we get a similar feeling with a fermented potion. I don't believe we will ever know the true root of the word "cocktail"