Tarantass

A tarantass in Siberia, c.1885

Tarantass - a four-wheel horse-drawn vehicle on a long longitudinal frame, reducing road jolting on long-distance travel. It was widely used in Russia in the first half of the XIX century. It carried, as a rule, four passengers. The origin of the word is not known: the etymological dictionary Фасмера [1] lists a number of variants from regional dialects to the ancient Indo-European roots with the mark "doubtful".

In 1840 the XIX century writer A.Sollogub published the story "Tarantass". The main "hero" of the story moved force of three.

But the tarantass is quite a surprising invention of the human mind! Imagine two long poles, two parallel axles, immeasurable and infinite; in the middle of them as though unintentional a huge basket approximated on each side, as a giant cup, like a bowl into which dinners are thrown; on the ends of the axles are attached, and to all this strange creation seems a wild, fantastic creation, something which averages between a dragonfly and a tilt cart. [2]

When in 1855 N.N.Muravev затеял cleaning of the device of officials of the office, " under distribution " has got and served in it Соллогуб. Муравьёву attribute words: " you the author of " the Tarantass "? Well, so can sit down in your tarantass and leave! ". Was not less ironic to a tarantass and Alexander Dyuma:

Imagine to itself a huge locomotive boiler on four wheels with a window in a forward wall to survey a landscape, and an aperture sideways for an input. The footstep for a tarantass still is not invented yet. We got in it by means of added лесенки which as required fitted or cleaned … … As the tarantass is not suspended on springs and has no benches, it устлан from within straw which not moderately scrupulous passengers can, if will wish, to replace. [3] Sources

  1. ^ Макс Фасмер. The etymological dictionary of Russian. Translation from German and additions of member-correspondent АН the USSR O.N.Trubacheva. In four volumes. М.: Progress, 1986
  2. ^ Century A.Sollogub. "Tarantass" [1]
  3. ^ Дюма A.Putevye of impression in Russia. М.: Ладомир, 1993

References

• http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Tarantass