snifter n.

1844, "a small drink of liquor, a 'nip,' " from a Scottish and northern English survival of an obsolete verb snifter "to sniffle," frequentative of snift "to sniff, snivel" (mid-14c., snifter), ultimately of imitative origin (compare sniff (v.)), but perhaps to English via a Scandinavian source (compare Old Danish snifte, Swedish snyfta).

The meaning "large bulbous stemmed glass for drinking brandy" is attested from 1937. The association of "drinking liquor" with words for "inhaling, snuffling" (such as snort (n.), snootful) is perhaps from snuff-taking and the nasal reaction to it. In Scottish and Northern England dialect snifter (n.) also had various senses, such as "a strong wind," "a bad head-cold," "snuff."