On 8/4/16 11:34 AM, Joy Beeson wrote:
Switchel is an eighteenth-century hayhand's drink
consisting of ginger, molasses, vinegar, and optional
oatmeal. I substitute honey and freshly-squeezed lemon
juice for the molasses and vinegar.
I looked up "switchel" in the O.E.D.
(I once forgot the name of the Oxford English Dictionary,
and the librarian directed me straight to it when I held my
hands as far apart as I could. My copy is a single huge
volume, but I need three magnifiers to read it.)
It appears that molasses is the defining ingredient: O.E.
D. says it's water with molasses in it, and sometimes ginger
or vinegar.
But I think I'm justified in continuing to use the word for
my molasses-free version.
In the first place, it also said that switchel was weak tea
served to sailors between meals. One of the quotes called
it "wretched" and says that the same leaves were boiled over
and over, with a little fresh tea added on rare occasions.
I deduce (from almost no evidence) that the sailors were
being served boiled water with just enough tea to color it
so that you wouldn't drink unboiled water by mistake.
After reading that, I think the defining characteristic is
that switchel is a beverage served to people who sweat a lot.
In the second place, that entry is a couple of centuries out
of date, and doesn't include any American usage. In some
American dialects, "switchel" contains oatmeal, and in some
it doesn't.
--
Joy Beeson
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
west of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A.
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