Notes and Queries, Number 76, April 12, 1851

R. W. C.

Honeymoon.--Among my memoranda I find that, on January 31, 1845, an accomplished Welsh lady said to me, that the common expression "Honeymoon" was "probably derived from the old practice in Wales of drinking methèglin for thirty days after the marriage of a bride and bridegroom. A methèglin jollification for thirty days among the relatives and friends of the newly married pair." The methèglin is a fermented liquor, of some potency, made from honey. The lady asked me, at the same time, if honey was used by the ancient Greeks or Romans in the preparation of a fermented liquor. I said that I recollected no such use of honey among them, but that the ancient Greeks seemed to have brewed a beer of some kind from barley or other grain, as allusion was made to it by Aristophanes. Perhaps this notice of the "honeymoon" may draw forth some information from your correspondents who are learned in "fol