cart English · revision 10674

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1200|origins=non kartr}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /kɑːt/, US /kɑːrt/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably [[bor|non|kartr]] or a similar Scandinavian word,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) replacing and partly continuing, by metathesis, Old English cræt, cart, wagon, chariot (before 800),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline) and probably influenced by Anglo-Norman carete, a diminutive of car (see [[car]]).^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998) Both are cognate with Middle Dutch cratte, woven mat, basket, and related to [[cradle]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) so that the first cart may have had a wickerwork body.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A carriage of any kind, even a chariot: before 800, in the Old English form;^(OED 1989)^(Cresswell 2021) a strong two-wheeled farm vehicle, 1297 in the OED, about 1200 as carte in the Ormulum.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Many old allusions are to carts carrying offenders to the gallows, sometimes serving as the drop, or to the public exposure of wrongdoers tied to a cart's tail.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) A lighter sprung two-wheeled vehicle is from 1823.^(OED 1989) ''Put the cart before the horse'' is from the 1510s in those words,^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) though the image goes back to the mid-14th century as putting the plough before the oxen.^(Etymonline) The verb, to carry in a cart, is from the late 14th century,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) and to carry laboriously (''to cart one's bags about'') is a later extension.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023) ''Carter'' is recorded as a name from 1193 and ''cartage'' from 1305.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 800 – cræt, a carriage.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1200 – carte, a cart.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1305 – cartage.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1387 – to cart (verb).^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1510s – put the cart before the horse.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1823 – a light sprung cart.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A strong open vehicle, usually with two [[wheel|alt=wheels]], drawn by a horse and used for farm work or carrying goods.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A small wheeled vehicle pushed by hand, such as a shopping cart.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A light two-wheeled carriage.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To carry in a cart or truck.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To carry or take with effort or roughly: ''carted off to jail''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cartable]]

+ * [[carter]]

+ * [[cartage]]

+ * [[cartwright]]

+ * [[cartload]]

+ * [[cartwheel]]

+ * [[go-cart]]

+ * [[oxcart]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[car]]

+ * [[cradle]]

+ * [[tumbrel]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}