Sack (wine)

[4] Julian Jeffs writes: "The word sack (there are several spellings) probably originated at the end of the fifteenth century, and is almost certainly derived from the Spanish verb sacar ("to withdraw").

"[3] The Duke of Medina Sidonia abolished taxes on export of wine from Sanlúcar de Barrameda in 1491, allowing both Spanish and foreign ships.

[6] Shakespeare's minor character Christopher Sly, a drunkard and an object of a jest in The Taming of the Shrew, declares that he has "ne'er drunk sack in his life".

[9] Ben Jonson's Inviting a Friend to Supper refers to "A pure cup of rich Canary wine, / Which is the Mermaid's now, but shall be mine".

The early Poets Laureate of England and the UK, such as Jonson and Dryden, received their salary, in part or in whole, in sack.

Falstaff : "If I had a thousand sons, the first humane principle I would teach them should be, to forswear thin potations and to addict themselves to sack."