וויסקי

Yiddish

Alternative forms

• וויסקיי (viskey)

Etymology

Borrowed from English whisky, whiskey (possibly via German Whisky and/or Russian ви́ски (víski)), from Irish uisce beatha, Scottish Gaelic uisge-beatha (literally “water of life”), from Proto-Celtic *udenskyos (“water”) + *biwotos (“life”), from *biwos (“alive”), calque of Latin aqua vitae.

Noun

וויסקי • (viski) m, plural וויסקיס (viskis)

1. whisky, whiskey

Usage notes

• Note the masculine gender in current use in German, but now considered archaic in Russian.

See also

• סקאַטש (skatsh)
• בורבאָן (burbon)

References

• Justus van de Kamp et al., “װיסקי” in Jiddisch-Nederlands Woordenboek [Yiddish-Dutch Dictionary], Amsterdam: Stichting Jiddische Lexicografie, 1987-present (ongoing). [1].