Calvados
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| On the sea charts of the Norman coast from the 17th century, the Latin expression "Calva-Dorsa" indicated two cliff zones with peeled crests, distant from ten nautical miles between Arromanches and Anneles. The "Calva-Dorsa" constituted the first visible spot from open sea when the sailors were returning towards their home harbours. This Latin idiom became through the sailors language contraction: "Calvados". | |||
| In 1790, when France began to be organised into departments, the members of the Constituting Parliament hesitated on naming that of Caen. Since all the possible names closely resembled those of the Old Regime, the name Calvados was created from the chart indication “calva dorsa”. |  | ||
| The birth of calvados as an alcool | |||
| La naissance de l'eau-de-vie de cidre, qui ne s'appelait pas encore Calvados, est très lointaine, le premier écrit officiel date du XVIème siècle. | |||
Sir Alexis de Gouberville described the first official reference to cider distillation in his diary on March 28th 1553. |  | ||