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By
Mary
Bellis
"The new mechanical wagon with the
awful name automobile has come to stay..." New York Times (1897 article)
The New York Times' mention of the
name automobile was the first public use of the term by the media and helped
to popularize that name for motor vehicles. However, the credit for the
name automobile goes to a 14th Century Italian painter and engineer named
Martini.
Martini never built an automobile
but he did draw plans for a man-powered carriage with four wheels. Martini
thought up the name automobile from the Greek word, "auto," (meaning self)
and the Latin word, "mobils," (meaning moving).
The other popular name for an automobile
is the car. The word car is derived from Celtic word "carrus," (meaning
cart or wagon).
What other names for motor vehicles
have famous automobile inventors used? Let's check the names they used
in their patent applications.
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Oliver
Evans applied for a U.S. patent in Philadelphia in 1792 for a
"oruktor amphibolos"
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George Selden
received a patent for a "road machine" in 1879.
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The Duryea
brothers patented their "motor wagons" in 1895.
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Henry
Ford called his 1896 car a "Quadricycle."
Other early media references to motor
vehicles included names such as: autobaine, autokenetic, autometon, automotor
horse, buggyaut, diamote, horseless carriage. mocole, motor carriage, motorig,
motor-vique, and the oleo locomotive.
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