Aqua Vitae

Aqua vitae /ˌeɪkwə ˈvaɪtiː/ (Latin for "water of life") or aqua vita is an archaic name for a concentrated aqueous solution of ethanol. The term was in wide use during the Middle Ages, although its origin is undoubtedly much earlier, having been used by Saint Patrick and his fellow monks to refer to both the alcohol and the waters of baptism. This Latin term appears in a wide array of dialectical forms throughout all lands and people conquered by ancient Rome. Generally, the term is a generic name for all types of distillates, and eventually came to refer specifically to distillates of alcoholic beverages and liquors.

Aqua vitae was typically prepared by distilling wine; it was sometimes called "spirits of wine" in English texts, a name for brandy that had been repeatedly distilled.

A local translation of aqua vitae was often applied to an important, locally produced distilled spirits. This leads to whisky in Scotland (from Gaelic, uisge-beatha), whiskey in Ireland (from Irish, uisce beatha), eau de vie in France, acquavite in Italy, and akvavit in Scandinavia. When the term is used in England, it usually refers to French brandy. Aqua vitae was also known in Slavic lands. It appears in Polish okowita, Ukrainian оковита (okovyta), Belarusian акавіта (akavita), and яковита' (yakovita) in southern Russian dialects.