Why is a car called a car?

Answer 1

The word car shows that it was derived from the Latin word carrus or carrum. Carrum means a wheeled vehicle.

The word vehicle itself has origins in Latin. The Latin word vehiculum became vehicle in English. In Latin, carrus means a wagon, a four-wheeled baggage cart, cartload or wagonload. All these meanings point to what a car means in English. In medieval times, carrus was used as a unit of weight as well. The word car is also classified as a descendent of carrus in Romanian. Carrus has two alternative forms in Latin as well; namely carrum and charrus.

The etymology of carrus can be traced back to Gaulish origins. It is known to be derived from the Gaulish karros and from Proto-Celtic karros meaning chariot or wagon. The Gaulish language is a branch of the Brythoic language and it also used the word Karr; the Brythonig language evolved into Welsh (and Gaelic) where 'Car llusg' (drag cart or sledge) and 'car rhyfel' (war chariot) are still relevant.

Answer 2

There are a number of suggestions as to why cars are called cars. Some say that car is short for the word carriage (cars were originally called horseless carriages and, to a degree, superceeded train carriages, or train cars).

Others says that in Austria, around 1870, the German inventor Siegfried Marcus assembled and tested an experimental four wheeled motorised cart. The basic craft had no seats, steering, clutch or brakes. A second Marcus "car" was built in 1888/89 powered by a 1HP, four stroke engine and included many of the features missing on the first car. So the first car may have been derived from the word cart. RAWR