most people think the name "vodka" comes from the slavic word for water in its diminutive form, "little water". the earliest mention of vodka in poland is in 1405. the russians are known to have first used the word in june 8, 1751. it is not known if it was the russians or the poles who made the first drinks that could be classified as vodka, as sources provide various views on this topic (though it's important to remember that the first mention of the word "vodka" in cyrillic refers to a medicinal drink bought by the merchants of kievan rus from poland). it is also worth noting that vodka was first used as medicine. when it became a popular drink, it was first known in polish as "gorzałka" - from the old polish word "gorzeć", meaning burn. at first, gorzałka was a people's drink, but in the slavic countries it soon became common among the nobility as well. it is worth noting that the common ukrainian word for vodka is "horilka" which bears an extremely close resemblance to the polish gorzalka. both words roots have the same meaning ("hority" - to burn; "gorzeć", also to burn)