Etymology of "usquebaugh-baul"

[Caoimhin O Donnaile]

On Wed, 30 Jan 2013, Elizabeth J. Pyatt wrote:

> I was recently asked by a reporter if I knew the etymology of the "baul" in the compound "usquebaugh-baul" which is a quadruple strength whiskey (http://whiskyman.com/news/perilous_whisky.html)
>
> The reporter knows that "usquebaugh" is "uisge beatha", but needed more information on "baul". He also passed on that the term appears in Martin Martin's "A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland (1703).
>
> His research had discovered ball ~ baull 'limb', the idea that the usquebaugh-baul  "affects all the Members of the Body"   according to Martin.
> I also entered "strong" and came up with "balc". I was wondering if this was possible, although there is an extra "c" /k/.
>
> FYI - other sources translate "usquebaugh-baul" as "perilous whiskey", but I couldn't find any words that jumped out at me in the DIL.
>
> Are there any ideas people might have? Any info appreciated.

“Baol” means danger as Ann said and is a common word in Ireland, but it 
isn’t common at all in Scotland, where the usual words are “cunnart” or 
“gàbhadh”.  I’d guess that “baul” is more likely from “ball”, meaning 
member, limb, as Martin Martin himself said, talking about the Island of Lewis:

   THEIR plenty of Corn was such, as disposed the Natives to brew several
   sorts of Liquors, as common Usquebaugh, another call'd Trestarig, id
   est, Aqua-vitæ, three times distill'd, which is strong and hot; a third
   sort is four times distill'd, and this by the Natives is call'd Usquebaugh-baul,
   id est, Usquebaugh, which at first taste affects all the Members of the
   Body: two spoonfuls of this last Liquor is a sufficient Dose; and if any
   Man exceed this, it would presently stop his Breath, and endanger his
   Life. The Trestarig and Usquebaugh-baul, are both made of Oats.

As well as that, “ball” is pronounced /bauL/ (“baul” in English 
spelling), especially in Lewis, whereas “baol” isn’t.

Maybe the 17th century sales pitch was the hint that it benefited all 
members of the male body, as in the 20th century adverts which ran for 
years in Scotland for a particular beer claiming that it “reaches the 
parts which other beers don’t reach”.

There’s a short Scottish Gaelic whisky terminology list here, although it 
doesn’t have anything like usquebaugh-baul:

   http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaidhlig/faclair/cuspair/uisge-beatha/

Caoimhín