That is arak http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arak_(distilled_beverage). It is very similar to what we call in Spanish "anís" or "aguardiente" (although I think aguardiente is quite different but we usually confuse them.) Anyway, it is completely different from wine, which is never so white and is made of grapes. By the way, I've heard Lebanese wine is very good.

The word arzhan, I have misspelt it in the earlier posts as 【ᠠᡵᡯᡥᠠᠨ】; however, its correct spelling is 【ᠠᡵᠵᠠᠨ】. My sincere apologies for this typo.

It's flavoured with what's called aniseed in English.

I've consulted a dictionary which lists arslan as an Old Turkic word for Lion. Perhaps the Mongolians borrowed their word from Old Turkic which later entered Jurchen/Manchu.

That is one of the theories shared by turcologists. There are many vocabularical similarites between Old Turkic and Classical Mongolian. Yet another theory is, both Old Turkic and Classical Mongolian borrowed words from each-other. However, indeed yes, the Manchu language does have a strong Turkic vocabulary (besides the Mongolic vocabs). Consider the obvious, manchu bi←→turkic biz, manchu si←→turkic siz (where the turkic plurals became the singulars in manchu). Of course, one may argue this is shared amongst the Pan-Altaic linguistic family but, the theory still remains.

Some neologisms of the Manchu language:

computer bodotun ᠪᠣᡩᠣᡨᡠᠨ

cell-phone kutule gisutun ᡴᡠᡨᡠᠯᡝ ᡤᡳᠰᡠᡨᡠᠨ

Interesting. Would you care to explain their etymologies? It looks like【ᠪᠣᡩᠣᡨᡠᠨ】is related to【ᠪᠣᡩᠣᠮᠪᡳ】.

【ᠪᠣᡩᠣᡨᡠᠨ】bodotun which is known as 計算機 in China, and thus, the etymology of 【ᠪᠣᡩᠣᡨᡠᠨ】indeed comes from the word 【ᠪᠣᡩᠣᠮᠪᡳ】bodombi. As for 【ᡴᡠᡨᡠᠯᡝ ᡤᡳᠰᡠᡨᡠᠨ】kutule gisutun, its meaning is obvious "message-carrier".

Wait, isn't <計算機> a calculator? I thought <電腦> was "computer".


Cool. How about the word for a regular telephone, as in a land line?

<計算機> is mainland usage. A calculator is <計算器>.
<電腦> is used in Taiwan, HK and Macau, I think.