Wine and words
For some people having a few glasses of wine gives a new slant to familiar words.
Vowels become drawn out, some consonants are missed altogether and words
nobody new existed seem to pop up out of nowhere. But wine has been
contributing to conversation, indeed language itself, for thousands of years.
The word, “wine,” derives from the Greek word for wine, “oinos.” This in turn is
derived from, “Dionysus,” which would sound much the same as oinos if you left
off the first letter.
Dionysus was a Greek God, one of the Olympians, and was associated closely
with wine. In fact Dionysus was credited by the Greeks as having invented (or
discovered) wine.
It is remarkable to see how alike the word for wine is across ancient languages.
This is suggestive of a common origin for wine. The Romans, who of course
borrowed much from the Greeks including the love of wine (which they
subsequently popularised amongst the masses), called it, “vin.” The Romans
pronounced, “v,” as a, “w,” therefore they would have said, “win,” instead of,
“vin.”
From this we get, “vintage,” which literally means, “the taking of grapes off of the
vine,” but somehow it now applies to cheese, music, moments in sport …
anything really.
We also get vinegar, which derives from the Latin vin aigre, meaning "sour wine."
These are rather obvious examples but there are other words we use that have
their origins in wine.
“Orgy,” from the Greek word, “orgia,” means, “sacred rite.” Sacred rites for
Dionysus involved much sex, including bestiality, and of course the consumption
of large quantities of wine. Once intoxicated his followers took on immense
strength and tore live animals apart with their bare hands then proceeded to
drink the blood and eat the flesh. It is worth noting at this point that for
hundreds of years the cult of Dionysus was a female only cult. Once in this
frenzied, intoxicated state his followers, “Bacchae,” believed that the god had
entered into their body. The word they used was, “entheos,” meaning, “the god
within.” We refer to this state each time we use the word, “enthusiasm.”
Also from Dionysus, we get the word, “tragedy.” The first Greek tragedies were
performed about Dionysus and as Dionysus was closely associated with the goat,
the chorus used to dress in goat skins. Hence the word “tragoidia,” which
actually means, “goat song.”
Outside of the Dionysiac cult, the Greeks often got together to drink wine and
discuss important matters. “Symposia,” means, “drinking together,” and from
this word we get, “symposium.”
But if you prefer beer to wine then instead of asking your friends to a symposium,
you might invite them to a banquet (Ancient Sumerian for, “a place of beer and
bread”).