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by keithold is a prodigal bagger on October 10th, 2008

keithold is a prodigal bagger

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What are the origins of the word taxi?

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  • by singwell-is off researching a lot on October 10th, 2008

    singwell-is off researching a lot

    Harry Nathaniel Allen of The New York Taxicab Co., who imported the first 600 gas-powered New York taxicabs from France, coined the word taxicab as a contraction of taximeter cab. In time, the shortened term, taxi, came into common usage. Cab is an abbreviation of cabriolet, a type of horse-drawn carriage. In Britain, the word taxicab is rarely used.[citation needed] In the U.K., taximeter cab was shortened to taxi and cab, and these were and are used separately to distinguish between type of service and/or type of vehicle.[citation needed] In this article, taxicab appears throughout.

    In turn, taximeter is an adaptation of the French word taximètre, which is a derivation of the German word taxameter, coined from Medieval Latin taxa, which means tax/charge, together with meter from the Greek metron meaning measure
    Wikipedia

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  • by Scott D - ex-QnA on October 10th, 2008

    Scott D - ex-QnA

    The word taxi comes from "Thurn und Taxis", German nobility which ran the German Empire's mail system from 1490 to 1867.

    http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/taxi/etymology.html

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