Bacchanal

Bacchanal pronounced (bah-kuh-nahl, bak-uh-nal, bak-uh-nl (noun) or bak-uh-nl (adjective))

(1) A follower of Bacchus.

(2) A drunken reveler.

(3) An occasion of drunken revelry; orgy; riotous celebration.

(4) Of or pertaining to Bacchus; bacchanalian.

1530-1540: From the Latin Bacchānālis (having to do with Bacchus) & Bacchānālia (feast of Bacchus), plural of Bacchānal (a place devoted to Bacchus), from Bacchus (the god of wine), from the Ancient Greek Βάκχος (Bákkhos).  By extension, the meaning "riotous, drunken roistering or orgy" dates from 1711.  Bacchus, known also as Dionysus (Διόνυσος) (Dionysos) was in Greek Mythology the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness, fertility, theatre and religious ecstasy.  In Antiquity, most attention focused on wine and given consumption was both high and enthusiastic, the worship of Bacchus became firmly established.  A quirk of Bacchus’ place in the pantheon of gods is that, uniquely, he was born of a mortal mother.  The Romans adopted the name bacchanal (a woman given to such things was a bacchante) and named the behavior of those who had taken too much strong drink: bakkheia.  Bacchanal is a noun & adjective, Bacchanalia is a noun; the noun plural is bacchanals.

Bacchus and Ariadne

Bacchus and Ariadne (1717) by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (1675-1741).

In Greek mythology, Ariadne was the clever, though perhaps naïve, daughter of King Minos of Crete and she aided the hero Theseus in his mission to slay the Minotaur.  To say naïve might be understating things: poor sweet Ariadne was an emo and a bit of a dill.  On the island of Crete, there was a great labyrinth that housed a fearsome beast, the Minotaur, half human, half bull.  King Minos, in retaliation for his son's death at the hands of an Athenian, required the people of Athens every nine years to send seven young men and seven young virgins to be sacrificed to the beast, the alternative the destruction of their city.  One year, Theseus volunteered to be sent to Crete as part of the awful pact, planning to kill the Minotaur and thereby release his people from their plight.  When he stepped ashore in Crete, Ariadne spotted him and at once fell in love, as emos often do; running to Theseus, she offered to help him defeat the monster if he would marry her.  Theseus naturally agreed so Ariadne gave him a sword and a ball of red thread with which to mark his path so he could find his way out of the labyrinth.  The plan worked to the extent that Theseus slayed the Minotaur but certainly had no intention of marrying Ariadne.  While the couple traveled to Athens, during a brief stop on the island of Naxos, he sailed away, abandoning her while she slumbered on the beach.  Ariadne may have been an emo but Theseus was a cad.  Distraught by being deserted by the one she loved, Ariadne was still sobbing on the shore Bacchus appeared with a procession of his followers.  They spoke a few words and within moments had fallen in love, soon to marry.  In some tellings of the myths, after their wedding, Bacchus placed Ariadne's sparkling diadem in the sky as the constellation Corona, thus making her immortal.

A bacchante illustrating the consequences of what the Ancient Romans called bakkheia: Lindsay Lohan in a Cadillac Escalade, resting after dinner, Los Angeles, May 2007.

Dipsomaniac

Dipsomaniac (pronounced dip-suh-mey-nee-ak or dip-soh-mey-nee-ak)

(1) One with a morbid paroxysmal craving for alcohol; a person with an irresistible craving for alcoholic drink.

(2) In informal use, a persistently drunken person; a drunkard.

(3) In informal use, an alcoholic (technically and clinically incorrect)

1843:  A compound word, the construct being dipso-, from the Ancient Greek δίψα (dípsa) (thirst) +‎ maniac, from the French maniaque, from the Late Latin maniacus, from the Ancient Greek μανιακός (maniakós), the adjectival form of μανία (manía) (madness)).  The slang shortening dipso is from 1880.  In casual use, those with an excessive fondness for strong drink attract many labels: alcoholic, sponge, lush, inebriate, boozer, sot, bum, drinker, drunkard, hobo, carouser, guzzler, dipsomaniac, souse, wino, bacchanal, soak, tippler, stiff, debauchee.  Dipsomaniac & dipsomania are nouns and dipsomaniacal is an adjective; the noun plural is dipsomaniacs.

Dipsomaniacs and alcoholics

In medicine and related fields, clinicians distinguish between the dipsomaniac and the alcoholic.  Alcoholism is an addiction or a dependency on alcohol, the word alcoholism coming from the Medieval Latin alcoholisms, coined by Swedish physician Professor Magnus Huss (1807–1890) in his 1849 essay Alcoholismus Chronicus although Dr Huss used the word to describe an condition today called alcohol poisoning rather than the condition of alcoholism .  At this time, alcoholism was labeled as "habitual drunkenness" or some similar term, reflecting the pre-modern attitude that it was a weakness of character or the result of bad upbringing rather than anything chemical and thus an illness.  Dipsomania is characterized by periodic bouts of uncontrollable craving for alcohol but alcoholism and dipsomania are not interchangeable; dipsomania describing a form of consumption that includes periods of sobriety as well as of drunkenness.  There’s a bit of overlap between the two and some certainly progress from one to the other but in the clinical sense, there are differences.  While it’s possible for the true alcoholic to stop drinking, they don’t cease to be an alcoholic, they become a sober one whereas if a dipsomaniac stops drinking, they cease to be a dipsomaniac.

The top 25 (2018): Despite it's stellar reputation, Australia really needs to try harder.

As an interesting etymological point, alcohol, although a borrowing from Medieval Latin, was originally from the Arabic and entered first into the technical jargon of European alchemists and apothecaries before being adopted for general English use.  It became common in English during the 1500s through two forks, one from Spanish, one from French.  There’s some dispute between scholars about the Arabic origin but the most popular suggests the ultimate root was the classical Arabic اَلْغَوْل‎ (al-ḡawl) or غَوْل‎ (ḡawl), both of which translate as “bad effect, evil result of headache, best known from verse 37:47 in the holy Qur’an which mentions drink in which there is no "ghawl".  As well as English, the word passed to many European languages including the Italian alcoolisto, the French alcoolique, the German alkoholiker, the Spanish alcohólico and the Swedish alkoholist.

Dipsomania manifests thus as a fondness for alcoholic drinks rather than a chemical dependence, although, at the margins, the distinction can be fine and some dipsomaniacs can descend to alcoholism.  Many however spend a lifetime enjoying strong drink without ever developing a dependence although there are other concerns about the physical consequences of high or frequent consumption.  People might however be surprised at just how low is the level of consumption the health authorities recommend as being safe.  Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) recommends a “healthy adult” drink no more than 10 (ten) standard drinks every 7 (seven) days and no more than 4 (four) standard drinks per day.  Those under 18 (eighteen) should not drink at all and nor should pregnant people or those breast-feeding (believed now properly called gender-neutral “chest feeders”).  NH&MRC define a "standard drink" as any of (1) light beer (2.7% alc/vol) 425 mL, (2) mid strength beer (3.5% alc/vol) 375 mL, (3) full strength beer (4.9% alc/vol) 285 mL, (4) regular cider (4.9% alc/vol) 285 mL, (5) sparkling wine (13% alc/vol) 100 mL, (6) wine (13% alc/vol) 100 mL, (7) fortified wine (sherry, port) (20% alc/vol) 60 mL & (8) spirits (vodka, gin, rum, whiskey et al) (40% alc/vol) 30 mL.

That might surprise some who consider themselves “light” or “social” drinkers who suddenly realize that for perhaps decades they’ve been giving it a bit of a nudge just about every night and consumption by the famous is often the subject of interest, the quip about Sir Winston Churchill (1975-1965; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) not being alcoholic because “no alcoholic could possibly drink so much” has been attributed to several.  Pace NH&MRC but these things are relative and Sir Tony Blair (b 1953; UK prime-minister 1997-2007) in his earnestly written memoir (A Journey (2010) Random House, London, 624 pp, ISBN 978-0-09-192555-0) included a staccato passage admitting he was probably at least verging on the NH&MRC’s limit:

“The relationship between alcohol and Prime Ministers is a subject for a book all on its own.  By the standards of days gone by I was not even remotely a toper, and I couldn’t do lunchtime drinking except on Christmas Day, but if you took the thing everyone always lied about — units per week — I was definitely at the outer limit.  Stiff whisky or a G&T; before dinner, couple of glasses of wine or even half a bottle with it.  So not excessively excessive.  I had a limit.  But I was aware it had become a prop.  I could never work out whether for me it was, on balance a) good, because it did relax me or b) bad, because I could have been working rather than relaxing.  I came to the conclusion — conveniently you might think — that a) beat b).  I thought that escaping the pressure and relaxing was a vital part of keeping the job in proportion, a function rather like my holidays.  But I was never sure.  I believed I was in control of the alcohol.  However you have to be honest: it’s a drug, there’s no getting away from it.”

So a pre-prandial G&T dinner and two glasses of wine with the meal and no mention of being tempted by a port or cognac somewhere between the pear and the cheese.  He said he thought it “a prop” and in that he’s doubtlessly correct but many expressed surprise he drank so little given his problems (having Gordon Brown (b 1951; UK prime-minister 2007-2010) and Peter Mandelson (b 1953, Labour Party identity) in one’s life can’t have been easy) but perhaps it’s good someone with their own nuclear weapons wasn’t on a Yeltsinesque (Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007; President of Russia 1991-1999)) bottle of vodka a day.  Whether alcohol used as “a prop” can be thought a form of dipsomania seems debatable because, definitionally, it would seem to suggest there needs to be some sense of enjoyment in the intake regardless of any practical benefit although on this, clinicians may differ.

Some just enjoy the taste.  Lindsay Lohan advertising the (fictitious) Japanese chewing gum Number One Happy Whiskey Chew, filmed for the TV show Anger Management, March 2013.