Sherris

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A term referring to a variety of fortified wine made from white grapes, often sweet and used in cooking or sipping ; a surname occasionally encountered in English-speaking regions; a rare or uncommon proper noun in certain contexts
2. A designation for a type of sweet, fortified grape wine similar to sherry; a family name found in some genealogical records; an unusual or obsolete place or brand name
3. An old or variant spelling connected to a fortified white wine akin to sherry; used as a last name in historical or modern records; occasionally noted as a rare term in specialized lexicons

Etymology: Sherris was once the ordinary English name for the wine we now call sherry, and it only became "sherry" because English speakers misheard it as a plural. The original was Spanish: "vino de Xeres," meaning "wine of Xeres," where Xeres was the older spelling of the town now called Jerez, in Andalusia. English took the name over in that form, and the final "s" was then read as the plural ending it seemed to carry. Speakers then reasoned backwards from that supposed plural, dropping the "s" to produce a singular, "sherry." The new singular became the standard word, while "sherris" lingered as an obsolete spelling. The same wine that once bore the town's name in its English form thus lost that form in a grammatical misunderstanding.