Clipped from 'brandywine,' from Dutch 'brandewijn' (burned wine) — literally distilled wine, shortened by the 1650s.
A strong alcoholic spirit distilled from wine or fermented fruit juice.
Short for 'brandywine,' from Dutch 'brandewijn,' literally 'burned (i.e., distilled) wine,' from 'branden' (to burn, to distill) + 'wijn' (wine). Dutch and Flemish traders dominated the wine and spirits trade in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and they introduced the technique of distilling wine to make it more compact and profitable for shipping. The English adopted both the product and its Dutch name, clipping it from 'brandywine' to 'brandy' by the mid-seventeenth century. Key
The Brandywine Creek in Pennsylvania and Delaware — site of a major Revolutionary War battle — is named after the drink. Dutch and Swedish settlers traded brandy along the waterway. The word 'brand' in the sense of a trademark also comes from the same Germanic root for burning, since branding originally meant to burn a mark into something.