Sedan

[Boatti, Stephen]

Webster's New World suggests possibly coined (1634) by Sir S. Duncombe,
holder of the patent for sedan chairs, prob. < Ital. Sedente, sitting, from
Latin root.

At least we don't call it a saloon, like the English.


Steve

 -----Original Message-----
From:   Duane Campbell [mailto:dcamp911 at JUNO.COM]
Sent:   Thursday, March 08, 2001 11:12 AM
To:     ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject:        Sedan

The following query from a friend in GB. I was not aware that "sedan" was
exclusively US usage. My dictionaries give "origin unknown," but that
seems to refer to the word itself. OED gives no usage as an enclosed
automobile. They list a US usage for a wheelbarrow to haul fish, but I
don't think that helps. Did some early auto or model bear the proprietor
name of Sedan? (Barry?)

D
*************************

Which reminds me, why do Americans refer to a closed 4 seater car as
a 'sedan'?   As far as I am aware no one else in the English speaking
world use this descriptor.  One assumes that it comes from the same
root as a 'Sedan Chair' but that seems a bit sparse to me as the
original derivation was from the Latin to sit.   Were there once US
cars in which you stood?