Etymology
In the U.S., carbonated water was known as soda water until WWII, due to the sodium salts it contained. These were added as flavoring and acidity regulators with the intent of mimicking the taste of natural mineral water.
During the Great Depression, it was sometimes called "two cents plain," a reference to its being the cheapest drink at soda fountains. In the 1950s, terms such as sparkling water and seltzer water gained favor. The term seltzer water is a genericized trademark that derives from the German town Selters, which is renowned for its mineral springs. Naturally carbonated water has been commercially bottled and shipped from this town since the 18th century or earlier. Generally, seltzer water has no added sodium salts, while club soda still retains the sodium salts.
In many parts of the US, soda has come to mean any type of sweetened, carbonated soft drink.
In the UK today, drink mixers sold as soda water (by drinks companies such as Schweppes, Fever Tree and Fentimans) contain bicarbonate of soda, which gives them a specific flavour and differentiates them from carbonated water. It is popularly used for drinks such as whisky and soda and Campari soda. The term "seltzer water" is virtually unknown in Britain or Commonwealth countries.
Read more about this topic: Carbonated Water
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)