Tarantass

A tarantass in Siberia, c.1885

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. The origin of the word is not known: Max Vasmer's Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language [ru][1] lists a number of variants from regional dialects to the ancient Indo-European roots with the mark "doubtful".

  1. ^ 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