Etymology

grog

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Today it means: An alcoholic beverage made with rum and water, especially that once issued to sailors of the Royal Navy. Full definition →

Old Catalan grog ← Latin crocum ← Catalan tot
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The story

  1. Catalan · derived fromtot
  2. Latin · derived fromcrocum“saffron”
  3. Old Catalan · derived fromgrog
  4. English todaygrog

An allusion to Admiral Edward Vernon (nicknamed “Old Grog” after the grogram coat he habitually wore), who in 1740 ordered his sailors' rum to be watered down. Alternatively, from Old Catalan grog or groch, modern groc, meaning "yellow" (ultimately from Latin crocum (“saffron”); after the name of the resulting color of the watered down rum sold all over the Mediterranean. The ration of rum tot could also come from Catalan tot meaning "full", "whole".

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.