Tarantass
The tarantass is a four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle on a long longitudinal frame, reducing road jolting on long-distance travel. It was widely used in Russia in the first half of the 19th century. It generally carried four passengers.
Design
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Vladimir Sollogub gave an ironic description of a tarantass.[1] His and other descriptions may be summarized as follows. The tarantass has been described as two long poles serving as parallel axles supporting a large basket forming a cup or bowl. It is not suspended on springs, and generally has no benches. The vehicle is accessed by an external ladder. The interior is generally covered by straw, changed at intervals for cleanliness, upon which the passengers rest.[2][3] A similar description was given in The Illustrated London News.[4]
The types of a tarantass manufactured in early Soviet Union varied. In particular, they could have no springs, or two or four springs.[5]
Historical context
[edit]The origin of the word is not known: Max Vasmer's Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language[6] lists a number of variants from regional dialects to the ancient Indo-European roots with the mark "doubtful".
In 1840, Russian author Vladimir Sollogub published an ironical novelette "Tarantass", written in the form of a travelogue.
In 1893, medical doctor and Christian missionary Charles Wenyon travelled from Vladivostok to the Urals, to the marker on the boundary of Europe and Asia by a combination of tarantass and river steamer. He claimed to be one of the last Englishmen to take this route "in the old fashioned way", by steamboat (up the Ussuri and Amur), tarantas (across the expanses of Siberia), and rail (at the last stretch along the newly-constructed railroad branch from Europe, across the Ural River into Siberia). His journey is described in Four Thousand Miles Across Siberia: On the Great Post-Road.[7] He described tarantas as "a sort of means of transport which combines the disadvantages of all the others".
See also
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References
[edit]- ↑ Sollogub, Vladimir (2005) [1840]. "Соллогуб Владимир Александрович, Тарантас" [The Tarantas] (in Russian). Archived from the original on 3 February 2008.
Translated: Imagine two long poles, two parallel beams, immeasurable and endless; between them, as if thrown there by chance, lies an enormous basket, rounded at the sides like a gigantic goblet, like a bowl from antediluvian feasts. At the ends of the beams wheels are attached, and this strange creation seems from a distance like some wild offspring of a fantastic world, something halfway between a dragonfly and a kibitka. First, in the hollowed-out vessel there was no seat: a huge featherbed had collapsed into the cavity and brought its worn upper stripes level with the edges of the sagging sides. Then seven down pillows in chintz covers, deliberately dark in color for the road's dirt, rose in a pyramid on their soft foundation.
- ↑ Smith, D.J.M. (1988). A Dictionary of Horse Drawn Vehicles. J. A. Allen & Co. Ltd. p. 159. ISBN 0851314686. OL 11597864M.
Tarantass. Punt-shaped Russian passenger vehicle. Suspended on a series of flexible poles between fore and hind carriages. The rearward part, with a cross-bench for three or more passengers, was protected by hood and apron. Driven to a troika or team of three horses abreast.
- ↑ Berkebile, Donald H. (1978). Carriage Terminology: An Historical Dictionary. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. p. 270. ISBN 9781935623434. OL 4534466M.
TARANTASS — A four-wheel Russian traveling carriage. The body resembles a flat-bottom punt, and is placed on a series of long poles which connect the axles. A hood and apron protect the passengers from the weather.
- ↑ "Travelling in Siberia", The Illustrated London News, 25 February 1882, Volume: 80 , Issue: 2234, p.6, Quote: "It has no seats; the bottom is filled up with luggage, on the top of which mattresses and pillows are placed.<...> Six young birch-stems, on the middle of which the coach is fastened, connect the fore and hind axes; these poles are about twenty feet long, and very elastic,..."
- ↑ "Музей торговли — Товарный словарь — Тарантас" [Trade Museum - Trade Dictionary - Tarantass] (in Russian).
Translated: Tarantasses were produced without springs, with half‑springs (on two rear springs), and with full springs (on four springs). The longitudinal beams were made of wood or metal; the body was attached to them, made from rods, thin boards, or plywood. The seats (front and rear) were made of leather or canvas; the body had handrails, and the rear seat had a backrest. The footboards of the tarantass were of sheet steel; the fenders over the front and rear wheels were of sheet steel or of canvas stretched over a metal frame; the hubcaps on the axle ends could be threaded or secured with cotter pins; the traces to the shafts were usually made of metal, and only rarely of leather.
- ↑ Макс Фасмер. The etymological dictionary of Russian. Translation from German and additions of member-correspondent АН the USSR O.N.Trubacheva. In four volumes. М.: Progress, 1986
- ↑ Cross, Anthony. "In the Lands of the Romanovs: An Annotated Bibliography of First-hand English-language Accounts of The Russian Empire (1613-1917)" (PDF). pp. 47, 304. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 May 2024.