1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Molasses

MOLASSES, the syrup obtained from the drainings of raw sugar or from sugar during the process of refining. In American usage the word usually applies to both forms of the syrup, but in English usage the second form is more usually known as “treacle” (see Sugar). The word, which in early forms appears as melasses, molassos, &c., is from the Port. melaço, or Fr. mélasse, cf. the Late Lat. mellaceum, syrup made from honey (mel ). The geological term “molasse” must be distinguished; this word, applied to the soft greenish sandstone of the district between the Jura and the Alps, is French, meaning “soft,” Lat. mollis.