I heard a story in bartending class about the origin of the clinking together of glasses as in toasting. Winetasters first view the hue of the drink. then grasp the glass and feel its coolness. Next they smell it to get its “nose.” In the next step they would bring it to the lips where they would both taste and feel the liquid but first - to complete the sensory experience they would need something for the ear. The glasses are “clinked” to accomodate this nearly missed sense. Then the final step of tasting can be accomplished. True? I have no clue but the story is interesting and fun to tell at gatherings.
If you can show me that formal wine-tastings were an established custom in England before Shakespeare’s time, maybe. Until then, it’s bloody unlikely.
The theory about “literal spirits” in the staff report is iffy, too. Offhand, I don’t believe the term “spirit” was applied to alcohol until the invention of distilling. (In fact, I don’t believe the word “alcohol” itself is any older.)
Just a note… I think there’s a typo in that Staff Report.
should be
, I believe.
Sorry, but I don’t remember Staff Reporter: “Div”. When was this report written?
Just curious.
on Spirits:
Plural form spirits “volatile substance” is an alchemical idea, first attested 1610; sense narrowed to “strong alcoholic liquor” by 1678.
on Alcohol:
Modern sense of “intoxicating ingredient in strong liquor” is first recorded 1753
from http://www.etymonline.com/
So, I guess the term alcohol is actually younger. (Although the entry for the word is longer and includes older uses.)
Maybe you could clarify your comments about Shakespearean wine tasting. I’m not sure I get your point on that one. First off, are you referring to the staff report or the OP.
In the first part, I was responding to the original poster.
Iago. Some Wine hoa.
And let me the Cannakin clinke, clinke:
And let me the Cannakin clinke.
A Souldiers a man: Oh, mans life’s but a span,
Why then let a Souldier drinke.
Some Wine Boyes.
In the second, as I said, to the column.
It’s all clear now, thanks. I wouldn’t have made that connection by myself.
I’ve come across this and similar comments a lot and it seems a likely history for toasting in general if not the actual clinking of glasses though Ulysses drank to Achilles in Homer’s Odyssey nearly 3,000 years ago.
As for references to the actual clinking, I’ve found everything from Greek legends about scaring off the dæmons and færies to the idea about pouring wine into one another’s cups in order to alleviate fears of poisoning. The closest I found to anything like what the OP mentions is a supposed Greek legend regarding Dionysus.
Should be the html version of a pdf. Scroll down about half way to the “Bottom’s Up” column.
I can’t find any refernces that couldn’t just be more repetition of overheard stories, of course. Clinking glasses together seems likely to me to be an extensions of raising glasses, especially if a group is together in a circle.