The Nomenclature of Automobiles.

Progress, Volume I, Issue 5, 1 March 1906, Page 103

The Nomenclature of Automobiles.

By Robert Bruce

A few practically minded men on two continents have been at work more or less continually on some type or other of self-moving apparatus, for use on the highways, for upwards of a century. But for the greater part of the time, their efforts met with scant, short-lived encouragement. The engineering and mechanical foundations for new and independent systems of locomotion were slowly laid, while to constructive genius, busy with problems of more immediate promise, these were things of occasional speculation and experiment. The progress of the last ten years of the nineteenth century brought new and vital life into the field. Electricity extended and specialised its usefulness, co-operative means adapted steam power

nearer to the special requirements of road travel, and the all-round possibilities of the hydrocarbons were demonstrated. Mechanically propelled road devices began to appear on all sides, in this and other countries, not infrequently bearing names as new and strange as themselves. The philologist was not called into consultation. Not only complete machines, but individual parts and fittings, were treated in the same manner. Out of the abundance of the offering many survived, but none triumphed. An element of grim humour was invariably developed from any situation requiring legal definition of the new vehicle types. The powers that be — from national governments to everyday patrolmen — suffered humiliation alike, being bound by a sort of conventionality unknown in the wider freedom of press and public. In England, not long ago, electric machines were, practically,

outside the pale of municipal legislation, but those of the steam type might have been classed as " wild animals " under Section 64 of the Penal Code, which read :—: — " Any person who drives or leads along the public highway a wild and dangerous animal, or a vehicle or engine propelled by steam, except upon a railrod, unless a person of mature age shall precede such animal, vehicle or engine by at least oneeighth of a mile, carrying a red light if in the night time, or a red flag if in the day time, and gives warning to all persons whom he meets travelling along such highway, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour." This statute was inserted in the Penal Code many years ago, as a protection to pedestrians and drivers of horses from dummy and traction engines using the streets and roads. There is no record of the conviction of the driver of a private steam driven vehicle under its provisions. On the other side of the water ,also, they have had their share of trouble, but less so in America than elsewhere, since the term motor car has been, and still continues, most frequently in use in the United States. The German war office has come close to the original idea in the use of the literal equivalent for self-driver, while the European police have classed them variously, but in the main as " power cars," " power vehicle " and " power cycles." French experts, without referring to animate or inanimate objects, whether masculine or feminine, in the Council of State in France had recently to decide the question whether the new words designating motor vehicles should in official documents be masculine or feminine. They were deemed masculine, despite that many words of similar formation are feminine. A tourist desiring to cross the Upper Danube with his six-horse-power machine, brought a new problem in classification to the ferryman, whose tariff did not provide for any such passenger. Had he known the capacity of the vehicle, he would very likely have charged accordingly ; but he was

circumspectly cautious, and made out a ticket for a "go cart drawn by hand." These instances are simply typical and might be multiplied indefinitely, as showing the confusion in the eyes of the public and of the law, concerning car natures and uses, and how popular opinion combines with the usual grotesqueness of the various types and models to burden us with unsuitable and unreasonable names. Inasmuch as these things will not wait until the dictionaries have passed upon them, the best course would seem to be the adoption of the most acceptable forms. It is important to keep clearly m mind the difference between " type " and " model " in motor construction. Of the first there are necessarily few, since type follows the broad lines of propelling powers ; while of the latter there are multitudes since model is any particular subdivision of type, wherever and in whatever way developed. The only safely existing types in the United States today are most accurately and conveniently characterised as electric, steam, and gasolene motor vehicles — which broad terms are commonly used by the industry itself. But the fancy of the public is not thus easily satisfied. It is not content short of seizing every appellation in sight, and occasionally evolving an entirely new one, using each and all with unrestrained freedom. At first the term " horseless carriage " was the most popular since the novelty of the new locomotion seemed to be in its independence of the usual animal power. But this phrase has since been practically dropped through the weight of its own inaccuracy, its exclusiveness being disputed all along the line, from the ox-drawn conveyance of the American farm to the jinrikisha of Japan and the baby carnage of the world over. It became fatally irrelevant. The prefix " auto " found a surer hold. It not only expresses the idea of self-sufficienry of power which, though not entirely true, will remain the popular

conception for a long time to come ; but it lends itself to endless, fairly sensible adaptations. Several of these, particularly such as stand for the machine itself, are already established, among them :—: — i. " Automobile." This is at once the most common and the most traduced term of them all. It

is philologically at fault, being incongruous Greek and Latin, filtered through the French, but with a vitality promising to survive. 2. " Autodrome," literally self-runnmg. 3. " Autobaine," automatic wagon. Each of the two last named has an advantage m that its component parts are hewn from the same linguistic quarry. But both are lacking m adaptation. " Autodrome " might do for the vehicle itself, even as " hippodrome " ; but rules of grammar would be shattered m an attempt to make a verb of it, or to aptly name its driver. " Autobaine," " autobainer," "autobaineress," and " autobammg " (the suggestions of an eminent mechanical engineer), might be regarded as right and proper ; but how much would be left of the series after a decade's contact with the shortening tendencies of modern speech, is open to question. On the other hand, " automobile," " automobiling," and " automobilist," (the latter suitable for a person of either sex), are already popularly acceptable. These are long words, it is true, but they roll more readily from the tongue's end, and are less troublesome than most shorter ones could ever become. The " auto " is being more fixed daily because of its use as part of the names of different motor mechanisms. Auto-bus, auto-bell, auto-delivery and auto-patrol have come to be used without the quotation marks which invariably accompanied their earliest service. " Auto-gondola " and " autofiacre " are, however, yet in the grip of the quotation marks. " Mobile " has somewhat the same advantage of adaptability as " auto," and its use is broadening partly for that reason. The common root of move, motion, motor and mobile, namely " mo," still sur-

vives by itself, only in the classification of books. But it has already been drawn upon to form " autimo," and " tnmoto," the latter the trade mark name of an individual product. In the present freedom of word-making, it would be difficult to disenfranchise either of them. " Electromobile "

is in serious daily service, but "pushamobile" is still in the hands of the wits of the press. Out of the crucible of longer use and more serious thinking, the better of all these terms will pass with the unlamented " horseless carriage." The most reasomble of the compounds of " auto " will never be headed by the schoolmasters, and one need not be surprised to hear the bare prefix itself more often in the future than in the past. The great danger is irresponsible word-mongering — "automob," a Boston offering, for example. The astonishing Reuben's attempt to do the square thing, with " orter be mules " as the result, is preferable to that. Spared the irresponsible and the outrageous, neither the new sport itself nor its followers will be harmed by a nomenclature broadened to* suit its modest every-day needs.