The first comes from the ancient world, all the way back in the 4th century B.C.
ARISTOTLE FELT POSSESSED BY SPIRITS
In the “BarSmarts Advanced” handbook by David Wondrich, Dale DeGroff, and Paul Pacult, the term “spirits” for alcohol is attributed to Aristotle. “Aristotle wrote about this process in 327 B.C., but we have no proof that his fellow Greeks distilled spirits on any significant volume level,” the handbook reads. “Nonetheless, he was the one who gave the name of ‘spirit’ to the product of distillation. He thought drinking a distilled beer or wine put ‘spirits’ into the body of the drinker.”
But this explanation is suspect. If Aristotle was talking about spirits in the way we mean it, he would’ve used the word “pneuma,” which is ancient Greek for “breath,” “spirit,” or “soul.” In the New Testament, pneuma is most often translated as “spirit.” But distillation of alcohol wasn’t common in ancient Greece.
Another theory dates back to biblical times.
https://vinepair.com/articles/why-liquor-called-spirits/
