Etymology
The word rickshaw originates from the Japanese word jinrikisha (人力車, 人 jin = human, 力 riki = power or force, 車 sha = vehicle), which literally means "human-powered vehicle". In 1874, The word jinricksha/jinrikisha" was published in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1887. The word rickshaw/ricksha was included in the Oxford English Dictionary as a relation of jinricksha/jinrikisha. The word ricksha was used as a manual laborer's slang word in Japan. However, the Japanese rickshaw declined due to the development of the auto industry in the 1930s.
Read more about this topic: Pulled Rickshaw
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)