The story
- Medieval Latin · calque ofaqua vītae
- English todaywater of life
Chiefly a calque of Medieval Latin aqua vītae directly and via Scottish Gaelic uisge-beatha and Irish uisce beatha. Compare akvavit, aquavit, aqua vitae, eau de vie, whisky, and whiskey from the same sources. Compare also vodka, whose (borrowed) roots also refer to a special kind of water, as it were.
Words from the same roots
Medieval Latinaqua vītae all →
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.