French folk etymology: bleu-jaune

[Douglas G. Wilson]

Here is (at a glance) a likely proximate etymon of "blue john".

(Of course this says nothing about the possibility of French
"bleu-jaune" or so FROM "blue john".)

[supposedly 1639:]

http://www.archive.org/stream/artofdistillatio00winerich/artofdistillatio00winerich_djvu.txt

<<Afterworts or Wash (made by Brewers, etc.) called Blew John ....>>

[supposedly 1737; at G. Books, 1760 ed.]

http://www.fromoldbooks.org/NathanBailey-CantingDictionary/B/BLEW-JOHN.html

<<BLEW-JOHN, Wash, or After-wort.>>

[apparently 1663, quoted (at G. Books) in 1756:]

<<After this I took the icy part of the ale, and thawed it at a fire,
which was in all a pint of liquor ... very pale, and of a quick and
alish taste, very much resembling that drink, which the brewers call
Blew John.>>

[1670, quoted (at G. Books) in 1911:]

<<a sort of mighty strong beere called blew John.>>

[1768, applied with this spelling to the fluorspar; the passage is
quoted elsewhere also]

http://www.apter-fredericks.com/memorable-pieces/913.htm

"Blew" here is presumably an obsolete spelling of "blue" (I think). Why
the drink was so called I don't know. Maybe "blue" just means "pale"
(compared to other beer/ale)?

-- Doug Wilson

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