Why is a drink called a toddy?
Etymology. The word toddy comes from the toddy drink in India, produced by fermenting the sap of palm trees. Its earliest known use to mean a beverage made of alcoholic liquor with hot water, sugar, and spices is from 1786. Toddy in Kerala is a tradition that has been around for centuries. I don’t know who first thought of drinking the sap from a palm tree and found out if they left it for a while, it changed and made you drunk.