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Comment by caturopath | Hacker News Reader

We've been using "soy milk" for the better part of a century and we all know what it means. I don't see how this isn't more like "root beer" now, even if the etymological story isn't quite the same.

(edit: see below, attested for many centuries -- 'milk' as non-animal milks.)

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And “almond milk” for almost a thousand years (it was big in the Middle Ages because it was then not acceptable amongst many Christian and Muslim communities to use milk during fasting periods).

It was called 'almond milk' (or the equivalent in Old English) at the time?

Yes, almond milk was a popular substitute for regular milk in recipes and meals on days when dairy consumption was forbidden. [1] has a modern cook recreating some of these recipes, but I've seen similar recipes in older (~10-11th century) stuff from the Islamic world, where it wasn't merely a substitute.

The word milk in general could refer to any dairy-like liquid though. According to [2] that usage is attested from as early as ~1200.

[1] https://historydollop.com/2016/11/09/almond-milk-the-medieva...

[2] https://www.etymonline.com/word/milk#etymonline_v_16158

Yep. Here's a medieval recipe for butter made from almond milk (from http://www.godecookery.com/mtrans/mtrans54.html):

Botere of almand melk. Tak þikke almound melk & boyle it, & as it boyleth cast yn a litel wyn or vynegre, & þan do it on a caneuas & lat þe whey renne out. & þan gadere it vp with þyn hondes & hang it vp a myle wey, & ley it after in cold water, & serue it forth.

Here's an example in what I think is Middle English: https://www.reddit.com/r/medieval/comments/gu70rh/the_recipe...

Almond milk seems to have shown up by the 12th century, but Old English was mostly dying by then.

Much longer than a century apparently https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_milk#History

> "Soy milk" entered the English language (as "soy-bean milk") in an 1897 USDA report.

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