What Tequila means
Tequila is a Mexican drink name of Nahuatl origin meaning "place of work or tribute". It is built from tequitl (work, tribute, cutting) and -tlān (place of). It is pronounced teh-KEE-lah, and it is most associated with Jalisco.
The spirit is named after the town in Jalisco, so the question is really about the town. The tequitl + -tlān reading is the usual one, but a rival account makes it a Spanish corruption of a local ethnonym, and historians do not agree.
Tequila is one of the many Mexican food words formed in Nahuatl. Spanish borrowed it, and in several cases English borrowed it again from Spanish. See how Nahuatl builds words and the full list of Mexican food names.
This is a site about what Mexican words mean, so there is no recipe here. For the name itself: Agua fresca, horchata, atole, tepache, pulque, mezcal. Most Mexican drink names are the name of the plant or grain they are made from, and the agave spirits are named for the towns and regions that make them.
