The Origins of “Alcohol”

The word alcohol has an interesting journey through languages and cultures. It originally comes from Arabic: the word “al-kuḥl” (الكحل). In ancient Arabic, kuḥl referred to a fine powder of antimony, which was used as an eyeliner (a type of cosmetic still used today in many cultures).

• “Al” in Arabic is the definite article, meaning “the.”
• “Kuḥl” was this specific cosmetic powder.

From Cosmetics to Chemistry

So, how did this cosmetic term become associated with alcoholic drinks? Over time, al-kuḥl took on a broader meaning. As medieval European alchemists adopted Arabic scientific knowledge, they began to use alcohol to describe substances produced through distillation, a key technique in alchemy. Since the distillation process was often used to purify or extract the essence of a substance, the word started to refer to pure, refined materials.

When alchemists distilled wine, they produced a concentrated substance known as “spirits of wine,” which was essentially pure alcohol. This led to the modern association of the word with ethanol, the type of alcohol found in beverages like wine, beer, and spirits.

Recap

So, alcohol originally described an ancient cosmetic, but through the process of alchemy and distillation, it evolved into the word we use today for the intoxicating substance found in drinks.