tap

English has two words spelled tap: the stopper or faucet, and the light blow.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tæp/^[4]

tap¹ faucet, stopper

Etymology

The faucet is Middle English teppe, tappe, inherited from Old English tæppa,^[1][2][5] from Proto-Germanic *tappô,^[5][2] cognate with Middle Dutch tappe, Old High German zapho and Old Norse tappi.^[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A peg or stopper for closing the hole in a cask: about 1050 in the OED.^[7][1]

Semantic evolution

Word Origins notes that since the stopper controlled the flow of liquid, the word passed to any device controlling a flow of water.^[3] Etymonline compares spigot.^[5] On tap, ready to be drawn, is from the late 15th century.^[5][7] The verb, to draw liquor from a cask, is from about 1400,^[5] and to open up a resource in order to use it from the 1570s.^[5] Listening in secretly, first to telegraph wires, is from 1869, from the idea of piercing something to draw it off.^[5][3] A tap is also a tool for cutting an internal screw thread (1677) and, colloquially, a taproom (1725).^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – a stopper for a cask.^[7]
• c. 1400 – to draw liquor.^[5]
• late 15th century – on tap.^[5]
• 1570s – to draw on a resource.^[5]
• 1677 – a screw-cutting tool.^[7]
• 1869 – to tap a telegraph wire.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A device for controlling the flow of liquid from a pipe or cask; a faucet.
2. A device for secretly listening to telephone conversations; a wiretap.
3. A tool for cutting an internal screw thread.

Verb

1. To draw liquid from a cask or other container.
2. To draw on a resource or supply: tap new markets.
3. To connect a secret listening device to a telephone line.

Word family

• taproom
• taproot
• wiretap
• tapster

tap² light blow

Etymology

The light blow is Middle English tepen, tappen, probably borrowed from Old French taper (“to tap, rap, strike”),^[1][5][2][8] ultimately imitative of the sound;^[5][3] Hoad allows an independent imitative formation in English.^[2] MWU traces it partly to the French word, of Germanic origin, and partly to a Scandinavian source.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To strike lightly but audibly: about 1200 in Etymonline,^[5] probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle, in Barnhart.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The noun, a light blow, is from 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt.^[1] Striking one's foot lightly in time to music is from the mid-15th century.^[5] Tap dancing, and the metal plates on the shoes, are also tap.^[8][9] The meaning to choose someone for a duty or membership, from a tap on the shoulder, is from 1952.^[5] Touching a screen to give a command is a recent sense.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – to strike lightly.^[1][5]
• 1340 – a light blow.^[1]
• mid-15th century – to tap one's foot.^[5]
• 1952 – to choose for membership.^[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To strike gently, usually repeatedly.
2. To produce, such as a rhythm, by light blows.
3. To touch a touch screen to give a command.
4. To choose someone for a role or for membership.

Noun

1. A light blow, or the sound of one.
2. Tap dancing, or a metal plate on the shoe used for it.

Word family

• tapper
• tap dance

Related words

• spigot
• tip
• rap

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins