Vermouth takes its name from one of the bitter herbs formerly used to flavour it, an herb known in Old German as wermuota. This German name was adopted by French as vermout, which in turn was borrowed by English as vermouth in the early nineteenth century. Further back in history, the Old German wermuota—and also the Old English name for the same herb, wermod—seems to have developed from a Germanic source meaning man courage, a compound formed from wer, meaning man, and motham, meaning courage (the first of these words is also represented in werewolf, meaning man-wolf, while the second evolved into the word mood). The plant probably earned this name, “man courage,” because it was used as an aphrodisiac: it helped a man get his courage up. In English, the name of the herb shifted in the fifteenth century from wermod to wormwood perhaps because doctors, who used the herb to cure intestinal worms, mistakenly assumed that the word wermod must somehow be related to the word worm. Today, wormwood is used neither for curing worms nor making vermouth: in the early part of the twentieth century, it was discovered that the herb, ingested over a long period of time, is both poisonous and addictive. Accordingly, wormwood was either removed from alcoholic concoctions or, as in the case of absinthe, replaced with aniseed.
This is a type of white wine that is characterized by its sweet flavor and high level of aromatic herbs and spices, particularly wormwood. This wine is commonly known as “vermouth” and is used in a variety of cocktails and mixed drinks. While both Italian and French varieties exist, Italian vermouth is typically darker in color and has a higher sugar content than its French counterpart.
A libation crafted from a foundation of white wine, fortified with spirits, and infused with herbs and other ingredients; its name originates from the German term for wormwood, which imparts the distinctive flavor to vermouth. French vermouth is characterized by its dryness and lighter hue, while the Italian variant tends to be sweeter and darker in color. Vermouth finds application in the creation of diverse cocktails and is frequently enjoyed in combination with an equal portion of gin.