From Source
to Tap
The tap is indeed one of the most common and useful devices in our homes, giving us water whenever we need it and in whatever amount.
Although it is a familiar object, few people know why it is actually called a tap.
Here are three possible answers, only one of which, is correct. It's up to you to guess which… The word comes from
1.
Tappen, a town in North Dakota, in the United States, where the first factory making taps was established in the 19th century;
2.
Tappô, a proto-germanic term referring to the tapered cylindrical peg used to stop the flow in a casket or barrel;
3.
Karl Heinz Von Tappen, a German physicist who, in the 16th century, invented a mechanism which controlled the flow of water in houses.
