The Romance of Words.
TRAM Few people know the origin o£ the word “tram.” because they are not able to connect it up with any other word that will give a hint as to its meaning. There is a popular misconception that an Englishman named Outram originat-
ed the running of vehicles on rails in 1800, and so gave his name to the vehicle. This is incorrect, foi there is a reference to trams in an eighteenth century history, long before Outram’s time.
The true origin is in the Low German word for a beam —traam. For the first vehicles to run on rails were what are now called tubs—trucks in mines in which coal is wheeled from the coal face to the pit shaft.
These trucks first had beams ’ for rails, and with the development of the type of rail there has been great development in the vehicle that takes its name.
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Bibliographic details
Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 91, 11 January 1935, Page 7
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153The Romance of Words. Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 91, 11 January 1935, Page 7
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