Carriages & Coaches: Their History & Their EvolutionStraus, Ralph
History
Carriages & Coaches: Their History & Their Evolution
Straus, Ralph
Carriages and carts
Now it must be understood that the coach proper differs from all
earlier vehicles in being not only a covered, but also a suspended
carriage. The canopy has given place to the roof, a roof, that is to
say, which forms part of the framing of the body; and the body itself
is swung in some fashion, however primitive, from posts or other
supports. Further, it seems reasonable to suppose, on the analogy of
the _berlin_ and the _landau_—two later carriages which took their
names from the towns in which they were first made—that the first
coaches were built in a small Hungarian town then called Kotzee. Yet
it is to be observed that Spain, Italy, and France, in the persons of
various enthusiasts, have claimed the invention—their claims being
mainly based on such similarities as may be observed between the real
coach and the earlier cars and charettes.[19] Bridges Adams, indeed,
not to be outdone, hazards the suggestion that England might also be
included in such a list by reason of her invention of the whirlicote,
though he is obliged to admit that nobody knows _exactly_ what a
whirlicote was like. It is probably due to these patriotic gentlemen
that several rather ludicrous suggestions have been made to explain the
derivation of the word _coach_, which has a similar sound in nearly
all European languages. Menange rashly suggests a corruption of the
Latin _vehiculum_. Another writer puts forward the Greek verb ὀχέω,
to carry. Wachten, a German, finds in _kutten_, to cover, a suitable
explanation, and Lye produces the Flemish _koetsen_, to lie along. This
last, perhaps, is the most reasonable suggestion of those unwilling to
give the palm to Hungary, for not only were the Flemish vehicles well
known before the introduction of the new carriage, but there is also
some confusion, at any rate, in this country, between the two words
_coach_ and _couch_, both being found in the old account books. Even
in the sixteenth century the word seems to have bothered people. There
is an amusing reference to this point in an early seventeenth-century
tract called _Coach and Sedan Pleasantly Disputing_, of which I shall
have more to say in the next chapter.
“Their first invention,” says a character in this dialogue,
“and use was in the Kingdome of _Hungarie_, about the time
when _Frier George_, compelled the Queen and her young sonne
the King, to seeke to _Soliman_ the Turkish Emperour, for aid
against the Frier, and some of the Nobilitie, to the utter
ruine of that most rich and flourishing Kingdome, where they
were first called _Kottcze_, and in the _Slavonian_ tongue
_Cottri_, not of _Coucher_ the French to lie-downe, nor of
_Cuchey_, the Cambridge Carrier, as some body made Master
_Minshaw_, when hee (rather wee) perfected his Etymologicall
dictionarie, whence we call them to this day _Coaches_.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account