COFFEE: decoction of berries

　　It is said that back somewhere in the year 850, a goatherd named Kaldi became puzzled at the strange way his flock was acting. He noticed that they were nibbling on certain berries, so he decided to try the berries himself. He did, and was so excited at the feeling of exhilaration he got that he rushed off to tell the other goatherds about the bush. The Arabs soon learned how to dry and boil the berries, and they called the brew qahwe. Its use immediately stirred up a great ruction among the orthodox Mohammedans.Some of the faithful drank their qahwe to keep

　　awake during the interminable religious services,but for that reason others thought that qahwe should be barred as an intoxicant.Turkey took up the brew qahwe,and this gave France her cafe,hence our word coffee.

　　COGNAC:named for a town

　　When guess sip their after dinner cognac,they are tasting a liquor that has been in the world for more than 400 years.The name cognac is short for Eau de Vie de Cognac,“water of life of Cognac,”a town in southwest France where brandy-marking is the main industry.It was a Dutchman who discovered brandy they say,a sharp businessman who was worried because more grape-wine was being produced in Cognac than they could ship out.Sohe thought if he distilled the water from the wine there would be less bulk and more of the product could be transported. The idea was that the customer could pour the water back in when he received the stuff.It was a good idea at that,but for some reason it didn't work.Brandy as we know it seems to havebeen introduced into France from Italy at the time HenryⅡ,then Duke of Orleans,married Catherine de Medici.This was in 1533,and soon after cognac became one of the most famous Frence brandies.

　　COLLATION:began with the monks

　　In the Benedictine monasteries the monks used to gather in the evening and read aloud from the Collations,or lives of the saints.Then they would talk about these things and eat a light meal the while .Later this came to be called a collation,or a light meal that was eaten on fast days in place of supper.Finally in later days,and with the laity,it was used to mean a meal,and sometimes an elaborate one.

　　COOK:just means cook

　　The word cook itself holds little inerest for us.It traces back to the Latin word cocus or coquus,from coquo,“cook.”But the derivatives from it may be worth our attention.A biscuit,for instance,is “twice-cooked”or“baked”out of the French bis, “twice,”andcuit,“cooked,”which is similar to “zwieback,”from the German zwie,“twice,”and backen,“bake.”If you should concoct a story or a soup,you cook the ingredients together(Latin con-,“together”)until you've made up a good one.Both of the words kitchen and cake come by different routes from coquo.

　　CORDIAL:close to the heart

　　Should you ever in your life have sipped a cordial,it warmed your heart,didn't it? And it properly should,for the word cordial comes from the Latin term cor,cordis,“heart.”Likewise a cordialhandshake is a “hearty”handshake.When we are in accord(Latin ac-,“to”)with a neighbor,our “hearts”and minds are in harmony.But should there be discord(dis-,“awayuote ),our hears and minds are apart.A man of courage is a man of “heart,”for courage comes to us though French from the Latin cor.Again,the record that is kept divides into re-,“again,”and cor,cordis,“heart,”because in former times,when writing was not such a simple art,the records were often passed on by word of mouth and had to be leaned by“heart.”

　　DATE:like a finger

　　The fruit of the date palm was once thought toresemble the human finger,and hence our word date comes ultimately from dactylus,the Latin term for“finger.”As all Bible readers know, the date palm was common in the Mediterranean region long ago.Its introduction into America was due to the efforts of Spanish missionaries in the 18th century who started seedlings in Mexico and elsewhere.

　　DISTILL:drop at a time

　　When a substance is distilled it is vaporized in a retort,passed into a receiver,and condensed drop by drop.The Latin term distillo suggests this process when we split the word up into de,“down,”and stilla,a“drop.”And when we instill the young with wisdom,that,too, is poured“into”their minds“drop bydrop.”