I think that the only connection is "public," whether public affairs or a
public house, open to all customers.

At 02:41 PM 8/30/00 +0200, you wrote:
>There is that word again . . . . "publicans"
>
>I have always wondered if there was any connection between the US term for
>the political party called "Re-publicans" and the word that references the
>congenial server of malt beer in pubs in Europe.
>
>If so, how does a re-publican differ from the non-re-publican?
>
>Does anyone know?