# In what languages is a tap an animal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 4, 2022, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-is-a-tap-an-animal/972683 "2022-10-04T08:11:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-is-a-tap-an-animal/972683/1 "2022-10-04T08:11:47Z")
The word _cock_ in English can refer to a tap—i.e., a faucet or spigot; a spout with some mechanism for controlling the outflow of liquid. It’s theorized that this meaning derives from the other meaning of _cock_ (i.e., a rooster), however the evidence is contradictory. According to the _Oxford English Dictionary_: > The origin of the name in this sense is not very clear: the resemblance of some stop-cocks to a cock’s head with its comb, readily suggests itself; but some of the earlier quotations seem to imply that the power of closing the ‘cock’ was no essential feature, i.e. that a _cock_ was not necessarily a _stop-cock_, but that the word simply meant a short spout for the emission of fluid; in others it appears to be = nozzle or mouthpiece. Yet the German language has exactly the same ambiguity: its words for “rooster” and “tap” are both _Hahn_. This is also noted by the _OED_: > But in German, _hahn_ has been used in the same sense for an equally long period, and an example of 1503 in Grimm has ‘wenn es (ein kind) einen hän ufgewint, so louft der wein aller aus’ (if the child turns a cock, all the wine runs out), clearly referring to a stop-cock. Something similar, yet entirely different, is going on in French, where a tap is a _robinet_, an obsolete diminutive term for a sheep or a calf. The French term has been adopted by many other languages, such as Italian (_rubinetto_) and Serbo-Croatian (_rubinet_). Is the word for a tap in any other language the same as its native word for a rooster, sheep, calf, or some other animal? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-is-a-tap-an-animal/972683/2 "2022-10-04T08:23:48Z")
The etymology of tap in the context of a water spigot comes from tapping of casks - related to physically ‘tapping’ (striking) a bung or peg (or spigot) into the hole. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-is-a-tap-an-animal/972683/3 "2022-10-04T08:57:48Z")
In Afrikaans (and presumably Dutch), the word _kraan_ is used for the plumbing fixture and for the bird known as a crane in English… Same word also for crane, the moving equipment. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-is-a-tap-an-animal/972683/4 "2022-10-04T10:37:33Z")
Interesting. In Swedish the tap and the moving equipment is _kran_, the bird however is _trana._ ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-is-a-tap-an-animal/972683/5 "2022-10-04T11:08:23Z")
In Spanish the word for tap is _grifo_, which also means [griffin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffin). Do mythological animals count? Talking about cranes, the German word _Kranich_ means the bird, and derived from that the [machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_(machine)) is called _Kran_, but _Kran_ can also be a tap, but only in Central Western Germany (see [disambiguation](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kran_(Begriffskl%C3%A4rung)) in the German Wikipedia). ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-is-a-tap-an-animal/972683/6 "2022-10-04T12:07:56Z")
Wow—so far we have roosters, sheep, calves, cranes, and gryphons. Any idea why there’s such a variety of animal names linked to faucets? As the _OED_ suggests, it might be the resemblance of the stopping mechanism to an animal’s head, though it’s kind of strange that so many languages use so many _different_ animals. Personally, I don’t think a stopcock resembles a crane any more or less than it resembles a sheep or a gryphon. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-is-a-tap-an-animal/972683/7 "2022-10-04T13:47:02Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Talking about cranes, the German word _Kranich_ means the bird, and derived from that the [machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_(machine)) is called _Kran_, but _Kran_ can also be a tap, but only in Central Western Germany (see [disambiguation](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kran_(Begriffskl%C3%A4rung)) in the German Wikipedia). I never knew that this usage was restricted to Central Western Germany, I thought it was universal. I live in Westphalia, and here Kran/Hahn for faucet are used interchangeably. As a humorous side-note: if you serve someone water from the tap and they ask what kind of water it is, the answer often is “Kraneberger”, a play on the fact that bottled mineral water in Germany is often named after the town where it’s from, like for instance “Gerolsteiner”. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-is-a-tap-an-animal/972683/8 "2022-10-04T14:19:55Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > if you serve someone water from the tap and they ask what kind of water it is, the answer often is “Kraneberger”, a play on the fact that bottled mineral water in Germany is often named after the town where it’s from, like for instance “Gerolsteiner”. In the UK, tap water is sometimes (mostly by older people) referred to as _“Council Wine”_. This is because at one time charges for water were added to local property taxes. Even though the Council had no direct connection to the water company, they were perceived as the supplier. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-is-a-tap-an-animal/972683/9 "2022-10-04T20:44:15Z")
In the US tap water is often called branch water at least in the context of mixed alcoholic drinks. I remember at about age 12 I was serving drinks – nothing complicated – for my parents and maybe 10 guests. One of them asked for whiskey and branch and I had to ask my dad what that was. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2022, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-is-a-tap-an-animal/972683/10 "2022-10-04T20:45:59Z")
Does a tapir count? 😃 [![](https://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/sites/default/files/teaser_image/tapir_thumb.jpg) ](https://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/sites/default/files/teaser_image/tapir_thumb.jpg) Also, its face kind of resembles my bathroom faucet. On a serious note, the etymology of the name is not fully established. One is that it derives from the Proto-Germanic [tappô](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/tapp%C3%B4), another that it derives from the Old Tupi [tapi’ira](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tapi%27ira#Old_Tupi). ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2022, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-languages-is-a-tap-an-animal/972683/11 "2022-10-05T19:33:42Z")
In Czech it is “kohoutek”, which means “little rooster”.