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HOGSHEAD
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HOGSHEAD , a cask for holding liquor or other commodities, such as See also:tobacco, See also:sugar, See also:molasses, &c.; also a liquid measure of capacity, varying with the contents. As a measure for See also:beer, See also:cider, &c., it equals 54 gallons. A See also:statute of See also:Richard III. (1483) fixed the hogshead of See also:wine at 63 wine-gallons, i.e. 521 imperial gallons. The See also:etymology of the word has been much discussed. According to See also:Skeat, the origin is to be found in the name for a cask or liquid measure appearing in various forms in several See also:Teutonic See also:languages, in Dutch oxhooft (See also:modern okshoofd), See also:Dan. oxehoved, O. Swed. oxhufvod, &c. The word should therefore be " oxhead," and " hogshead " is a See also:mere corruption. It has been suggested that the name arose from the See also:branding of such a measure with the See also:head of an ox (see Notes and Queries, See also:series iv. 2, 46, See also:note by H. Tiedeman). The New See also:English See also:Dictionary does not See also:attempt any explanation of the See also:term, and takes " hogshead " as the See also:original See also:form, from which the forms in other languages have been corrupted. The earlier Dutch forms hukeshovet and hoekshoot are nearer to the English form, and, further, the Dutch for " ox " is os. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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