metheglin

From Welsh meddyglyn, from meddyg (“medicinal”) (from Latin medicus) + llyn (“liquor”) (cognate with Irish lionn and Gaelic leann).

• IPA^(key): /mɪˈθɛɡlɪn/, /ˈmɛθəɡlɪn/

metheglin (countable and uncountable, plural metheglins)

1. A spiced mead, originally from Wales.
   • 1988, Anthony Burgess, Any Old Iron:

     But Gwen behind the bar said: ‘Try this, mead it is called.’ Reg admired the pure long high front vowel. Sack mead and sack metheglin. A scholarly man, tall and in leggings, his face a map of purple rivery veins, said: ‘Well, it’s the Welsh national drink, or was. Should properly be meddyglyn, liquor being llyn and meddyg from medicus, the healer'.

   • 2001, David Alan Woolsey, Libations of the Eighteenth Century: A Concise Manual for the Brewing of Authentic Beverages from the Colonial Era of America, and of Times Past:

     In Digbie's era metah, metheglin, and melomel were probably considered synonyms. […] "Melomel" today usually means a mead flavored with any fruit juice other than apples or pears. Peaches, cherries, blackberries, or plumbs^[sic] are some good, historic choices.

• helmeting