Since there have been so many virginity questions here lately, I have another one. As a former bartender-type, I often hear the term virgin, when relating to non-alcoholic drinks. Unfortunately, search engines are overwhelmed by click-bait slideshows like "20 virgin drinks that will rock your world" and "25 bar terms you need to know!"
EDIT: some additional research:
Upon having further time to research, I discovered these early usages:
It refers to Mah-que-be, a
secret brew of herbs which is supposed to fortify..against snake poison
In the Quarterly Review of Literature , 1964
now sweet words went to their heads like a virgin drink of spirits
Doesn't really answer my question, however
I can see a relation between a virgin (usually referring—albeit not exclusively—to young children) and non-alcoholic drinks, but I ask:
What is the history of the relationship between virgin and non-alcoholic?
Best Answer
It may be an extension of Virgin Mary, which is straight tomato juice (as opposed to a Bloody Mary, which has vodka). OED cites usages going back to the mid-1970s, under its entry for virgin:
Once a Virgin Mary had been established (as a pun of sorts) from Bloody Mary, it's not hard to imagine how, say, virgin daiquiri would have followed.
I don't know if the term goes back further than that.