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[jough]

"Vodka originated during the 14th century and the name is a diminutive of "voda" (water)."

The Little Book of Trivia, Vol. 4

So, um, there.

[theauthors]

heehee

the dimunitive for 'voda', 'water', is 'vodichka' or 'vodica', but alright lets check out some authorities

encyclopaedia britannica is totally sure about that etymology, but i mean they're british. lets look at wikipedia.

It is thought that the term is a derivative of the Slavic word "voda" (woda) for "water."

The origins of vodka (and of its name) cannot be traced definitively

A number of pharmaceutical lists contain the terms "vodka of bread wine" and "vodka in half of bread wine". As alcohol had long been used as a basis for medicines, this implies that the term vodka is a noun derived from the verb "vodit,'" "razvodit'", "to dilute with water." Hence "vodka of bread wine" would be a water dilution of a distilled spirit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodka this rings true if you've ever tried cheap russian vodka, which most of it is diluted spirit to this day

[theauthors]

theres an item concerning this exact question on the duscussion page too !

The Etymology of the word Vodka

I question the explanation for the etymology of the word VODKA in the following passage:

"Vodka is a typically colorless liquor, usually distilled from fermented grain. It is commonly thought that the term is a diminutive of the Slavic word "voda" (woda, ?) for "water", thus, vodka can be translated as "little water"."

If the article connects the etymology of the word as the Slavic "diminutive" for water, then I believe the statment is incorrect. In Polish, woda is the exact equivalent of the English water. There is no "diminutive" connotation in the Polish between the words wódka (vodka) to woda (water) that I am aware of. Therefore, the overarching word "Slavic" is misleading. However, in Polish slang there is a play-on-words were persons refer to wódka (vodka) as woda (water). Nonetheless, I believe there is a connection, in Russian, of vodka being the diminutive of water. Could other Polish, Russian and other Slavic speakers confirm this? --Patpecz 21:50, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes. In Slovenian, vodka is clearly sweet/kind/small voda. If muca is kat, mucka is kitten.

-In Russian "vodka" is not diminutive of "voda" (water). Diminutive would be "vodichka" or less likely "vodica". In this case word "vodka" can more likely be inperpreted as "something similar to water", because the words are similar, but definetly not like "small water".

This explanation is most often repeated. I disagree with it as well, but wikipedia is not in business of "correcting" something. We may only present published opinions. I added a pretty much substantiated explanation given by Pokhlebkin. `'mikka (t) 19:45, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

AFAIK, the diminutive explanation is still the one most widely believed to be correct. In out explanation, "Slavic" doesn't refer to the modern languages, but to one, or more, of the medieval or earlier Slavic languages in which the term "vodka" arose, in which the term probably was used as a diminuitive of water (this is also pretty much the origin of "whisky"). This should be clear from the context, as the term is not a recent coinage.
That "vodka" may have lost the diminuitive connotation in certain modern languages (through the familiarity of the term vodka by itself and the consequent dissociation from the term's origins), doesn't mean that the etymology is incorrect. -ka is still a diminuitive or feminine marker in pretty much all Slavic languages today. ProhibitOnions 12:29, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Maybe it would be better to explain this situation then. Because simply stating 'vodka' = diminutive if 'voda' is WRONG. Its not nice to state wrong things where people expect to find true things

there's really nothing on the etymology in the russian wiki

anyhow, 'vodka' in the sense of 'a mixture diluted with water' is new to me and would seem correct, so it is education all around good fellas

sorry for maybe a bit of a harsh response, proboscis. sorry for maybe a bit of a harsh response, trunk.

[Bobby Isosceles]

People it's all just a solution of ethanol in water with some congeners in suspension

There are bigger giraffe to fry!

Leo Fontanette died in a cornfield two Fridays ago

[Carlos del Vaca]

Hey, if Marc Summers says it, it must be true.

Marc Summers must feel like a total douchebag sometimes, because of the inane copy they give him to read.
But then, he probably makes pretty good scratch doing nothing but reading inane copy, so he gets the last laugh.

[Choop]

Marc Summers must feel like a total douchebag sometimes, because of the inane copy they give him to read.
But then, he probably makes pretty good scratch doing nothing but reading inane copy, so he gets the last laugh.

He produces Unwrapped. Were he unhappy with the writing, he could replace the writer(s?). I don't think it's so much feeling like a douchebag as being a dumb squack.

[CortJstr]

Marc Summers must feel like a total douchebag sometimes, because of the inane copy they give him to read.
But then, he probably makes pretty good scratch doing nothing but reading inane copy, so he gets the last laugh.

Harder to listen to for 30 mintues without going on a berserker rampage: Marc Summers or Rachel Ray?

[misterqueue]

Harder to listen to for 30 mintues without going on a berserker rampage: Marc Summers or Rachel Ray?

The latter, definitely.  Throw ol' weird shaped bobble head DeLaurentis for a trifecta of horror.

[Roger]

Russian diminutives are the best because there are so many.

For example, those Katyusha rockets the Hezbollah have been firing on Israel are named after the cute diminutive for the name Katya, which in turn is short for Yekaterina. What is it with Russians giving cute names to deadly things?

[Drygioni]

What is it with Russians giving cute names to deadly things?

I always thought Scud would have been a perfect name for a street-wise cartoon dog.

[theauthors]

heh!, roger

katyushas aren't rockets, rather rocket launchers. the rockets themselves are distinguished by calibre. the launchers are named after a wartime (ww2) tune about a village girl longing for a man she knows, who is on the warfront. it is basically a strongly patriotic song to instill courage into the heart and hopefulness into the soul, but melancholy. the name stuck in the very beginning of the war, with germans advancing inland.

[Carlos del Vaca]

The latter, definitely.  Throw ol' weird shaped bobble head DeLaurentis for a trifecta of horror.

Yeah, Rachael Ray gets on my nerves.  Summers sounds dopey at times but at least the show is interesting.

Giada can actually cook.  I don't understand why people think she's smokin' hot though.  I mean, I wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating crackers, but she ain't ALL that.

[jough]

I'm kind of a Nigella Lawson fan myself.

[Dr. Sodomy]

Hey, if Marc Summers says it, it must be true.

Completely off-topic Marc Summers story:

He was hosting some live Food Network thing from the Indy 500 race this past May, and myself and my intoxicated friends were walking through the infield thoroughfare where all of the race sponsors were set up. My friend sees Mr. Summers up on stage talking about food of some sort (I think that they were decorating cakes) and starts in screaming "Double Dare! Double Dare!"

Apparantly Marc Summers extremely dislikes it when you bring up Double Dare, now that he has such an influential job on The Food Network. He stopped the show.

Marc: "How old are you, sir?"

Drunk Friend: "22. What's it to you? Gonna slime me?"

Marc: "Sir, you were approximately 2 years old when that show was on television. Get the hell out of here."

Applause and laughter follows.

The logical conclusion: Do not bring up Double Dare when Marc Summers is decorating cake, and he is kind of a dick.

[AugustWest]

Wait, you're saying the moral of that story is that Marc Summers is kind of a dick?  Wow.  I came up with a completely different interpretation.