# Etymology of martini

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-martini/238174>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 4, 2004, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-martini/238174 "2004-04-04T09:49:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-martini/238174/1 "2004-04-04T09:49:56Z")

</div>

As in the drink.

My mother claims it’s something to do with Marie Antoinette - and further that the shape of the glass is the shape of her _nipple_.

Preposterous.

I usually easily debunk her with a quick trip to Snopes (daddy longlegs, et al) but this one might be a little too obscure.

Please prove her wrong.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-martini/238174/2 "2004-04-04T10:01:46Z")

</div>

p.s. I found [this](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_151.html) regarding champagne glasses…

It’s a start, but I’d still like to know the true origin of “martini”.

Thanks

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-martini/238174/3 "2004-04-04T10:10:16Z")

</div>

According to the Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, it’s American English and was introduced in 1894 in allusion to Martini & Rossi, an Italian vermouth manufacturer.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-martini/238174/4 "2004-04-04T14:13:38Z")

</div>

The OED’s latest(2003) draft has an 1887 cite.

It also has a strange, as yet unexplained cite from 1884 thusly:

> [@](#):
>
> 1884 O. H. BYRON Mod. Bartenders’ Guide 21 Martinez cocktail… Same as Manhattan, only you substitute gin for whisky.

That’s the latest found.

Was there a Martinez? Who knows? …yet.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-martini/238174/5 "2004-04-04T14:55:22Z")

</div>

I found [this page](http://www.fsbassociates.com/northpointpress/straightuporonrocks.htm) that talks about the history of cocktails in America.

> [@](#):
>
> Just how the martini got its name remains a mystery. Trying to solve it leads the hapless etymologist down one of the most meandering paths in the English language. The British long assumed that the drink originated with the Martini & Henry rifle, used throughout the Empire and known for its strong kick. Italians have argued, plausibly enough, that the name comes from Martini & Rossi vermouth. Both are wrong. The drink predates the rifle. And it was popular long before Martini & Rossi vermouth showed up on these shores. If the drink were named after a vermouth, Noilly Prat would be the one. Lowell Edmunds, in Martini, Straight Up, found that it was being exported to the United States as early as the 1850s.

There’s a lot more and it’s an interesting read.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-martini/238174/6 "2004-04-04T16:55:12Z")

</div>

From the immortal Wayne & Schuster sketch, [Rinse the Blood off my Toga](http://www.informalmusic.com/latinsoc/rinse.html)

> [@](#):
>
> **Flavius** Give me a Martinus.
> 
> **Claudius** Don’t you mean a MartiNI?
> 
> **Flavius** If I wanted two, I’d ask for it.