Dutch courage

For some reason, in the English mind, the Dutch have a close association with alcohol. Shakespeare made reference to this and today we talk of having 'Dutch courage'. The English language has borrowed Dutch words relating to alcohol. One of these is 'brandy' from the Dutch brandewijn, literally burnt or distilled wine. The English borrowing has of course been adopted by other languages. One of these is Italian - il brandy. I once worked for an Italian brandy company, where the brandy was moved along a brandydotto, similar to an aqueduct, but for brandy.
Another alcoholic beverage whose English name is borrowed from Dutch is gin. This is a shortened form of genever, which comes from the Dutch jenever/genever eventually going back to the Latin for juniper. Gin drinking was popularized in England after the accession of the Anglo-Dutch king, William III, and in some sense replaced French brandy. This period has become known as the Gin Craze and inspired the great English satirist, William Hogarth to make the engraving Gin Lane, populated by poor Englishmen and women drinking unlicensed gin. In the nineteenth century gin was again popular leading to the emergence of Gin Palaces. While many languages have borrowed and adapted the English 'gin', several languages spoken in the Indonesian archipelago have adopted variations on the Dutch jenever.

Further reading: Nicoline van der Sijs, Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, The Hague, 2010.

William Hogarth's Gin Lane