Where does the word toast come from?
You don’t give it a second thought while eating it with eggs in the morning. But at your friend’s celebration you enthusiastically “propose a toast,” — although you aren’t eating any — before raising your glass and saying some emotional words.
What gives?
The practice of raising your glass to wish someone happiness, success or good fortune isn’t new. In “The Odyssey,” Ulysses drank to Achilles’ health. In ancient Rome, diners raised their glasses to the Emperor Augustus at every meal. Many other cultures, including the Egyptians, Hebrews, Huns, Persians and Saxons, pledged their honor by raising a glass, too. The International Handbook on Alcohol and Culture says it’s “probably a secular vestige of ancient sacrificial libations in which a sacred liquid was offered to the gods: blood or wine in exchange for a wish, a prayer summarized in the words ‘long life!’ or ‘to your health!’”
That’s all well and good, but why do we call the custom a “toast”?
For centuries, people dropped pieces of spiced toast into their wine because the seasonings and charcoal flavored and tempered the wine. But the story behind how “toast” specifically came to refer to the practice of raising one’s glass to wish good health is a pretty strange one.
In the early 1700s, the founder and popular writer for a British magazine published a story that captured the public’s imagination. In it, “a beautiful woman was taking a dip in the cold waters at Bath when a man became inspired, filling a cup with the water and drinking to her health. Another in his company wittily (or drunkenly) replied that, while he did not care for the drink, he would gladly enjoy the toast (the lady being regarded as figuratively adding piquancy to the wine in which her health was drunk).” So toast initially meant “one whose health is proposed and drunk to” and gradually also came to refer to the salutation itself.
Yup, bizzarre. But we use the phrase to this day.
Maybe the next time you want to propose a toast, just for laughs, you should actually raise a piece of toast.
Sources:
https://www.etymonline.com/word/toast
https://people.howstuffworks.com/why-do-people-toast-before-drink.htm
