[gerdesj]

Perhaps (citation needed)! Barrel usage in Britain is a lot older than the Roman occupation of Britain. A cup is not a barrel.

If I was to bet, cooper is probably an anglicized form of a brythonic language word. Any Welsh, Scottish, Irish, Cornish or even Cumbric (int al) speakers hanging around here?

[adrian_b]

Barrel usage in Britain is old, but we do not have the slightest idea about how barrels and those who make barrels were named at that time. Even much later, by the time of Old English, it is not known whether the word "cooper" was already in use.

Etymonline says about "cooper": "either from Old English (but the word is unattested) or from a Low German source akin to Middle Dutch cuper, East Frisian kuper, from Low German kupe (German Kufe) "cask, tub, vat," which is from or cognate with Medieval Latin cupa."

Old English had the word "tunne" for barrel, hence "ton", which is a word widespread in many European languages and in Medieval Latin (e.g. French "tonne", Gaelic "tunna"), so it is uncertain where it comes from.

The word "barrel" was borrowed into English around 1300 from Old French.

[IAmBroom]

No need to bet, and NEVER rely on opinions of people about word origins. False etymologies are insanely common.

"Cooper" from Middle Dutch "kūper" (container or tub) from Latin "cupa" (cask or tub).