The word means "burn[t] (distilled) wine", stemming from Middle Low German: bernewin (Old Swedish: brænnevin).
It also exists in Dutch: brandewijn and German: Branntwein, gebrannter Wein, ultimately cognate to brandy(wine), also French: brandevin.
[1] A small glass of brännvin is traditionally called a snaps (Finnish: snapsi; compare German schnapps), although not on Iceland.
[2][3][4] Brännvin was central to the semi-mythical world in the songs of swedish composer Carl Michael Bellman.
1, the first verse begins:[5] In the US, a Chicago producer makes a bitter brännvin (beskbrännvin), called Jeppson's Malört.