toddy: [17] Toddy originally meant ‘palm sap’. It was an alteration of an earlier tarry, which was borrowed from Hindi tārī. This was a derivative of tār ‘palm tree’, a descendant of Sanskrit tāla or tāra, which in turn was probably borrowed from a Dravidian language of southern India (Kannada has tar, Telugu tādu). This palm sap was used as a drink, often in a potently fermented form, and in the 18th century toddy came to denote a hot spirit-based drink. [toddy etymology, toddy origin, 英语词源]