alcohol

Alcohol comes from the Arabic word al-kuhl, meaning "the kohl." Kohl (antimony sulfide) is a black powder that was widely used as eye makeup in the Middle East around 800 A.D.

Kohl is the earliest known distillate. When a curious Arab set out to determine what exactly was in wine that made it so intoxicating, he distilled al-kuhl as part of his experiments and ended up with a highly refined spirit.

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