Øl på 78 språk - Cerveza en 78 lenguas - Pivo na 78 jazykoch
"Tell me, Alvis - for all wights' fate
I deem that, dwarf, thou knowest -
how the beer is hight which is brewed by men,
in all the worlds so wide?"
- The Lay of Alvis (Elder Edda), Hollander translation.
Beer has a long history - the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians brewed a beer-like drink, and in the Middle Ages it was the most common beverage in European towns and cities. The word "beer" originally meant simply "The Drink" (it probably derives from Latin bibere, to drink). In other languages the word for beer points at the bitterness of the drink, the barley from which it is brewed, or the feasts with which it was associated.
Modern, western beer with hops was first brewed in Bavarian monasteries in the 7th century. Through the centuries it has followed the routes of trade, culture and colonialism. The French borrowed the words bière, mannequin and boulevard from 15th century Dutch, whereas the Spaniards brought the old Gaulish word for beer to the speakers of Tagalog (Philipines) and Quechua, the Inca language of Peru.
The list contains the word for beer in 78 languages, ranging in size from Chinese to Manx, the revived Celtic language of the Isle of Man. Some artificial languages have also been included.
Language / Word(s)
Afrikaans / bier
Albanian / birrë
Arabic / beereh (biræ)
Azerbaijani / pivo
Basque / garagardoa
Belorussian / piva
Bengali / beer
Breton / bier
Bulgarian / bira
Catalan / cervesa
Chechenian / jij
Chinese (Mandarin) / pi jiu
Croatian / pivo
Czech / pivo
Danish / øl
Dutch / bier
English / beer, ale
Esperanto / biero
Estonian / õlu
Faeroese / øl, bjór
Finnish / olut, kalja
Flemish / bier
French / bière
Frisian / bier
Gaelic (Scotland) / leann (lionn), beòir
Galician (Galego) / cerveja / cervexa
German (High) / Bier
German (Low) / Beer
Greek / mpíra (bira), zýthos
Hawaiian / pia
Hebrew / beera
Hindi / beer
Hungarian / sör
Icelandic / öl, bjór
Ido / biro
Indonesian / bir
Interlingua / bira
Irish (Gaeilge) / beoir
Italian / birra
Japanese / biiru
Korean / mek-ju
Kurdish / bîre
Lappish (Sámi) / vuola
Latin / cerevisia, cervisia
Latvian / alus
Lithuanian / alus
Luganda / bbiya
Macedonian / pivo
Malay / bir
Manx (Gaelg Vannin) / lhune, beer
Neo / biro
Nepali / biyar, jad
Norwegian (bm & nn) / øl
Occitan (Provencal) / bièra, cervesa
Persian (Farsi) / ab'jo
Police Motu / bia
Polish / piwo
Portugese / cerveja
Quechua / sirbisa
Rheto-Rumansch / biera
Romanian / bere
Russian / pivo
Serbian / pivo
Sesotho / jwala
Slovak / pivo
Slovene / pivo
Spanish / cerveza
Swahili / bia, pombe
Swedish / öl
Tagalog (Pilipino) / serbesa
Thai / bia
Turkish / bira
Ukrainian / pivo
Vietnamese / bia
Volapük / bil
Welsh / cwrw
Xhosa / ibhiye
Yiddish / bir
Zulu / utshwala
In Europe there are four main words for beer. Strictly speaking, ale is used in the North, beer in the West, cerveza in the South, and pivo in the East.
· Beer (bier, bière, birra, bjor, etc) probably derives from Latin bibere (to drink) or biber (a drink). The word beer is not related to the word brew.
· Ale (øl, olut, etc) derives from alum. The original meaning is "bitter".
· Cerveza (cerveja, sirbisi, sör, cwrw, etc) derives from the old Gaulish word for beer. In Gaul (France) itself it was replaced by bière in the 15th century.
· Pivo, the word used in most Slavonic languages, derives from the old word piwwo (barley).
Beer is not mentioned in the Bible (wine is). The word "øl" is used 21 times in Ibsen's plays (9 times in The Wild Duck alone). Shakespeare used "beer" 4 times, and "ale" 17 times in his plays ("Do you look for ale and cakes here, you rude rascals?"). For a more modern approach to beer and literature, read a book by the Flemmish novelist Herman Brusselmans!
In a Russian frequency dictionary "pivo" (beer) is word no. 3901 - hardly surprizing: "vodka" is much more frequent (no. 1488). The Norwegian word "øl" is no. 2915 in bokmål and no. 1339 in nynorsk according to two different frequency dictionaries. So, why is øl more frequent in nynorsk than in bokmål? Beer is not only a drink, - it is culture
Le 16/10/2004- c) compiled by Morten Svendsen, 1998. Minor update 2004
This page is http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/1222/beer.html