"covered wagon", 1754, and not the American West

[David Donnell]

FWIW, "machine", or something that sounds like it, is the Persian
word I know for car/automobile...

(Not sure how off-topic that is. At least it's a similar sense of the
word "machine".)

DD
Missourian @ NYC

At 11:21 AM -0400 7/6/08, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>"The Shah's women, and indeed others of distinction, rode on white
>horses, in the manner as men ride; but when they did not go in his
>company, they were usually carried on camels, seated in machines
>resembling a covered waggon, [sic] and hung like panniers over a
>pack-saddle, which I have already mentioned."
>
>Jonas Hanway. _An Historical Account of the British Trade over the
>Caspian Sea [etc.]_ London, Printed for T. Osborne [etc.], 1754, page 169.
>
>The OED describes "covered wagon" as "chiefly U.S.", and its first
>quotation is 1745, from J. S. Mclennan, _Louisburg_, [sic; this
>should be "Louisbourg"] and pertains to the colonial and British
>expedition against the fortress in Nova Scotia.  Its next is 1842,
>from the American West.
>
>The Shah is Nadir Shah of Persia, 1736-1747, commonly known in
>English and American newspapers of the time as "Thamas Kouli Kan".
>
>"Machine" here is I believe OED Draft Revision June 2008 n. sense
>5.b., "A (usually wheeled) vehicle or conveyance, esp. one drawn by a
>horse or horses, or other draught animal or animals"; 1687 and
>following.  The early quotations are all about the eastern
>Mediterranean region.
>
>Joel

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