aguardiente

(Sp. model spelled same [agwarðjénte] compound, agglutinated Spanish form < Latin aqua 'water' and arder < Latin ardere 'to burn, be on fire' plus the Spanish suffix -iente equivalent to the English -ing, in this case, literally burning water; hence, fire, or fiery, water)

   DARE: 1818. According to the OED, it originally referred to "a coarse kind of brandy made in Spain and Portugal" and was extended to native whiskey in the Southwest. Watts notes the continued evolution of the term: it also came to refer to spirits distilled from Mexican red wine or rum. As the Spanish sources note, it can refer to any distilled drink where the resultant alcohol is diluted with water. Hence it is a generic term translatable as booze (Blevins), strong (alcoholic) drink, or liquor (Hendrickson). It is likely that this generic meaning was the one used by cowboys and American Indians alike.

   Alternate forms: agua ardiente, aguadiente, aguadinte, aguardent, aquadiente, aquadinte, aquardiente, aquedent, aquediente, argadent, awerdente, awerdenty.