Sometimes one language offers clues to the earlier history of another language. This is the case with the English word sherry, which reflects a Spanish pronunciation common in the sixteenth century but not nowadays. Sherry, a strong white wine popular in Spain, England, and elsewhere, takes its name from Jerez de la Frontera, a town in Andalusia. It should be noted, however, that speakers of Spanish do not use the term sherry for the wine but instead refer to it with fino and other terms.

From the Middle Ages onward, English wine traders have bought Spanish wine. In fact, Chaucer (the son of a family of wine merchants) visited Spain, and in Jerez and Seville, there have long been English communities. Early English wine traders probably adopted a pronunciation of Jerez reflected in the archaic English spelling sherris. The Spanish pronunciation of the initial consonant has changed, but the English form sherry preserves the earlier consonant although the final consonant has disappeared.