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Origin of the Word Cocktail
This topic has been debated a lot and nobody really knows where the word came from, but every once in a while somebody comes across an old newspaper article discussing this topic. Well, as I was researching through some archives of old newspapers, I came across a couple of articles discussing the origin of the word "cocktail". I decided to share them. The articles are interesting in that they are from a fairly early time period (1910, 1924, 1976). Some of the stories don't jive with other historical accounts (like the third story about Angostura and Cockfighting). But, they are pieces of history.
My opinion of the origins of the cocktail seem to side with the story of horses. It is in the 1924 New York Times article below. I’ll just give you my impression.
Back in the 1700’s it seems feeding a horse a potent mixture of ginger and water would get them stimulated before a showing. So, you’d serve the horse a drink to “cock-its-tail”. Kind of makes sense and seems to have a rather benign origin. Occam’s Razor states "All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best." If we had to vote, I’d choose the horse story. What do you think?
New York Times 1924
New York Time (1976)
Times London (1910)
Wall Street Journal 1935
94 Comments on Origin of the Word Cocktail
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I was told many years ago that, in colonial times, they used a rooster's tail-feather as a stir stick in a particular pub and that THAT was the origin... DISCLAIMER: this was pure hearsay.
I'm not sure which one (if any) is correct, but I'd like to see a copy of the Webster's dictionary that "appends recipes of the best-known brands." I'm curious as to which drinks they saw fit to include.
One of the celebrities attending the 1935 Betsy Flanagan cocktail party was ... Aunt Jemima? That's just strange.
Actually, back in the day, they had people who would portray Aunt Jemima. They usually did the TV commercials etc. but I guess they did events. Interesting marketing.