Cyser

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An alcoholic beverage produced by fermenting a mixture of cider and honey together
2. A fermented drink combining apple cider with honey to create a sweet, intoxicating beverage
3. An alcoholic drink created by blending and fermenting cider with honey as its primary ingredients

Etymology: Before "cyser" meant a honey-based drink, the same root gave Middle English a word for a strong, intoxicating beverage of great potency. That word traces back through Medieval Latin "sīcera" to ancient Greek "síkera," and behind the Greek lies the Hebrew "šēḵār," meaning strong drink. The Hebrew term appears in the Bible, so a word for intoxication travelled from the Levant through Greek and Latin into English. The English form has a close relative in "cider." Both descend from the same Latin-Greek-Hebrew chain, but "cider" came to mean apple juice while "cyser" settled on a mead-like drink made with honey and fruit juice. The two words are doublets, meaning they entered English by different routes and diverged in sense.

Synonyms: mead