Noah's wine

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A depiction from the Holkham Bible c. 1320 AD showing Noah and his sons making wine

Noah's wine is a colloquial allusion meaning

alcoholic beverages.[1] The advent of this type of beverage and the discovery of fermentation are traditionally attributed, by explication from biblical sources, to Noah
. The phrase has been used in both fictional and nonfictional literature.

Definition and origin

In the

become intoxicated.[4][5] Thus, the discovery of fermentation is traditionally attributed to Noah because this is the first time alcohol appears in the Bible.[6] Noah's wine has been described as a "pleasant relief for man from the toilsome work of the crop".[7]

There is debate as to whether certain references to wine in the Bible are actually to a non-intoxicating substance, but, at least in this passage, the Bible states Noah became drunk (Hebrew: ישכר yiškār) after consuming wine (ייןyayin).[8] It has been suggested that Noah's wine must have been drugged as it could not have been strong enough to cause him to become intoxicated.[9] Rabbinic literature goes as far as to suggest that the grape vine-branch had its origins with Adam, and that Satan, along with fertilization using animal blood, played a part in the production of the wine. It blames those factors (especially the latter two) for the aforementioned potency of the wine.[10][2]

From a biblical view,

fermented beverages presumably spread throughout the world after Noah's supposed discovery, as alcoholic beverages are historically widespread.[11] Some climates are not suited for the growing of grapes; hence it is purported that humanity was led to discover other means (e.g. beer) of not simply satisfying thirst but also stimulating the mind.[11]

Description and usage

A journal, at the end of the nineteenth century published the following: "Man has been defined, perhaps somewhat crudely, says Food and Cookery, as an animal that prefers a properly cooked meal to raw food, and Noah's wine to Adam's ale."[12]

epic poem, Aurora Leigh has the following lines: "For everywhere/ We're too materialistic,—eating clay,/ (Like men of the west) instead of Adam's corn/ And Noah's wine."[15]

A work criticizing drunkenness from 1899 states:

Noah survived one flood, only to be the source of another; a flood that for its disastrous results and heartrending consequences has outrivaled the flood of his preserver, for the sparkling, crimson fluid from Noah's wine press has ... [been the cause] of misery [for] millions of helpless, struggling, pitiful human objects, carrying them on and on to an ocean of woe—to a deep, dark sea of oblivion.[16]

See also

References

  1. .
  2. ^ .
  3. ^ Genesis 1–6
  4. ^ Genesis 9:20, Genesis 9:21
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  10. ^ Two sources for Noah's entry in The Jewish Encyclopedia:
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  12. ^ Dietetic and Hygienic Gazette, Volume 15. The Gazette Publishing Co. 1899. p. 332. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
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  14. ^ Garnett, David (1964). Two by two: a story of survival. Longmans. p. 10.
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