ale

• n. 麥芽酒
• n. (Ale)人名；(塞、幾、葡)阿萊；(伊朗)阿勒

來自PIE *alu, 苦的。詞源同alum, 礬土。

ale

ale: [OE] Old English ealu ‘ale’ goes back to a Germanic root *aluth-, which also produced Old Norse öl (Scandinavian languages still use alerelated words, whereas other Germanic languages now only use beer-related words; English is the only one to retain both). Going beyond Germanic in time takes us back to the word’s ultimate Indo-European source, a base meaning ‘bitter’ which is also represented in alum and aluminium. Ale and beer seem to have been virtually synonymous to the Anglo- Saxons; various distinctions in usage have developed over the centuries, such as that ale is made without hops, and is heavier (or some would say lighter) than beer, but most of the differences have depended on local usage.

The word bridal is intimately connected with ale. Nowadays used as an adjective, and therefore subconsciously associated with other adjectives ending in -al, in Old English it was a noun, literally ‘bride ale’, that is, a beer-drinking session to celebrate a marriage.

ale (n.)

Old English ealu "ale, beer," from Proto-Germanic *aluth- (cognates: Old Saxon alo, Old Norse öl), perhaps from PIE root meaning "bitter" (cognates: Latin alumen "alum"), or from PIE *alu-t "ale," from root *alu-, which has connotations of "sorcery, magic, possession, intoxication." The word was borrowed from Germanic into Lithuanian (alus) and Old Church Slavonic (olu).

In the fifteenth century, and until the seventeenth, ale stood for the unhopped fermented malt liquor which had long been the native drink of these islands. Beer was the hopped malt liquor introduced from the Low Countires in the fifteenth century and popular first of all in the towns. By the eighteenth century, however, all malt liquor was hopped and there had been a silent mutation in the meaning of the two terms. For a time the terms became synonymous, in fact, but local habits of nomenclature still continued to perpetuate what had been a real difference: 'beer' was the malt liquor which tended to be found in towns, 'ale' was the term in general use in the country districts. [Peter Mathias, "The Brewing Industry in England," Cambridge University Press, 1959]

Meaning "festival or merry-meeting at which much ale was drunk" was in Old English (see bridal).

1. I live mostly on coffee and ginger ale.

我主要喝咖啡和薑汁汽水。

來自柯林斯例句

2. He liked the bitter taste of the ale.

他喜歡麥芽酒的苦味.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

3. I sometimes enjoy a pint of ale.

有時候我喝一品脫濃啤酒.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

4. The ale will fine.

啤酒會變清的.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

5. Come birl the ale , please.

來給我倒杯啤酒!

來自《現代英漢綜合大詞典》