The Washington critic., 1890-04-18
now BOOK BEER WAS NAMED.
The Word Originally Imported From
Bohemia Into Germany.


was interested in an article on book
beer in the Chicago Herald of Saturday,
says writer in that paper, but found
there no satisfying answer to the ques-
ton, Why is this brew called book
beer? The writer says:-"There is not
one who gives any,rother explanation
than that deducod from comparison.
But this. parison-with the supe-
riority of the buck among the deer--is
certainly cOmical, for the buck and the
beer have no mutual connection. Why
was not the black beer called horse
beer? The horse is certainly a nobler
animal than the buck. The Baby.
lonians and Assyriaps invented beer,
and, from them the whole of Europe
In the first place, their neighbors, the
Huns, Scythians and Slavs. learned the
art of brewing.
There was found among the cuneal
inscriptions in Assyria the name of hops
In the group of consonants, kiss (the
vowels are unknown, but not i'm.
portant. Compare the Hebraic kischos,
Egyptian zythus, denoting hops.) The
Huns called beer, which was prepared
from barley and hops, ksa-mmu, the
word being derived from the Assyrian
kiss. The Slavonic word of the same
origin was ksa-mec, which, in the form
of samec. is known In Bohemia to. day.
Many old manuscripts testify the an.
tlquity of the word. The other name
which tjust as ksamec) was attributed
only to the best kinds Of well hoped
beer, is kozel (z is to be pronounced
like in praisc.) Also this name is de-
rived from the Assyrian kiss.
1t is no wonder that these names were
preserved until to-day, for the Slavs,
who knew the beer a thousand years
before Christ, when they dwelt in Asia,
as is proved by the Armenian, Arabian
and Persian Scriptures. and recently
Oppert were fond of this drink. This
Is proved by the word they use for beer.
"Sivo'' means literally in the Slavic
language: "That we drink usually"
OF all the Slavs the Bohemiaus are the
best brewers, and the Bohemian beer, ,es-
pecially the Pilsener, is the best and most
celebrated beer of all, and every one
who visits Prague can convince himself
in the Sanct Thomas brewery that the
Bohemian koZel belongs to the best
kinds of the black beer.
By chance the name Kozel signifies
also 1.-The buck" German, der bock
Qn the English language many words
have two or more different signifca,
tions) And the Germans who became
neighbors of the Slavs in the early cen
turies after Christ learned from them
to know the black beer, we'll impreg-
mated with hops. They accepted the
name "kozel,' and translated the word
literally beck beer" In the course OF
time the origin of the word was forgot.
ten, but the Germans preserved the
word continually, although they do no,
know why the coed beer Is called book
beer and not otherwise, Why not horse
beer?
The story of King Gambrinus as al
inventor of brewing, who is said to have
lived many years before Christ and tC
have come to the Germans over the
mountains Of Alps, is nothing else thar
a myth of later times, perhaps of nC
historical ground, and, il any, then i
signifies only that the Germans learned
brewing first from the Romans. A
least / did not find any earlier testi
mony Of the German beer than that il
Tacitus' Germania." Tacitus de
scribes their beer as "a drink, prepared
from barley or any grain, similar to I
corrupt wine.
But there is no mention Of hops u
TO the time of Charles Ill, the Empe
TOR of Germany, who was at the sam
time King of Bohemia. So we cal
firmly depend upon it that the German
brewers first used hops in the late
times, while their neighbors, the Slavs
and especially the Bohemians, who pos
sessed large hop gardens (maiuly in th
enyirons Of the to-day city of Saaz,
brewed well-hopped beer. The "bocI
beer" is only an unfit translation.