I do not suppose that there will be any clear outcome but it is an opportunity to collate the collective wisdom.
To begin;
Further;Glenn E. wrote:A tappit hen is a bottle named after the knob on top that made it look a bit like a hen. Its size has varied over the years from 3 quarts (2.83 liters) to 3 x 70 cl bottles (2.1 liters). Its current size corresponds to three 75 cl bottles.LGTrotter wrote:A tappit hen is a three bottle bottle. As is a tregnum. Nuff zed.
A tregnum is a three bottle bottle.
What distinguishes the two is the shape of the bottle. A tappit hen has a distinct shape from which it derives its name, though I'm not sure that anyone uses an actual tappit hen shape anymore. A tregnum is a generic "large bottle" shape that happens to hold 2.25 liters. Some people now call squat 2.25 liter bottles tappit hens, though that is not technically correct.
Further still;AHB wrote:But that is precisely my understanding. A Tappit Hen is 2.1 litres, a tregnum is 2.25 litres.
Finally there are a few lines in TG Shaw;LGTrotter wrote:I wonder Glenn if you are confabulating the Scottish drinking vessel which had a knop on the hinged lid and of distinctive shape which held three quarts. It was the knop reminiscent of the crest of a hen which gave it the name. Then there is the bottle which is considered by George Saintsbury to be the perfect size and contained three bottles. Now Saintsbury was referring to claret primarily but the same size relates to port in the literature I have seen. It is true that the volume of a standard bottle fluctuates depending on where and when you measure it but the rule of thumb is that a tappit hen is three bottles.
It is interesting that this all seems to emanate from Scotland and that three quarts was considered a reasonable drink for someone. Perhaps it was more like a yard of ale, every pub had one but no one ever used it.
"Dining with M Michel and his son, I asked Mr M if he could explain the origin of the word Tappit-hen, used by Scott, and others, to denote an immense bottle, containing about a gallon; but he could not.
His son knows very little English, but he guessed what his father and I were talking about, and exclaimed, 'Oh! I know all about it'. He then told us that the small barrel which the vivandieres, attached to every regiment in France carry, slung to their back, containing wine or spirits, is called by them and the soldiers a cuppetin.
The word is not in the dictionary, but is pronounced as I have spelt it. I cannot doubt that this has been a usual term among the common French people; has been picked up by the Scotch, during their intimate intercourse with them in olden days; and that it explains the derivation of the incomprehensible Tappit-hen.
It is much more likely to be correct, than Jamieson's explanation in his Scottish dictionary:
Tappit-hen- A hen with a tuft of feathers. 1. A cant phrase denoting a tin measure containing about a quart, so called from the knob on the lid, as supposed to resemble a crested hen. 2. A measure containing a Scot's pint. 3. A large bottle of claret containing three magnums."
This all needs a bit of unpicking.