Do you know what a coachman is? This is an old word, the meaning of which and examples of its use in the literature are given in the article.
Meaning and origin of the word
The word "coachman" has Turkic roots. In Old Russian it sounded like "coachman". The word is derived from the root "pits" - this is how post stations were called in ancient Russia, at which tired horses were also replaced with fresh ones. What is a coachman? This is a worker whose duties included maintaining the station, horses, transporting mail and passengers.
The word coachman has many synonyms. For example: postman, charioteer, wagoner, yaryzhka, cabman, coachman on mail horses and so on.
A little about the life of coachmen
As usual, the boxes were ordinary peasants who were engaged in horse-drawn transportation of goods between postal stations and were in the public service, as well as transporting officials, government parcels and urgent news. They were also busy transporting ordinary people.
What is a coachman? This is an ordinary driver. Coachmen lived in settlements of 16-30 houses near postal routes with their families in the so-called pit huts, had land shares and mowing allocated by the state. ATtheir duty was to keep the horses, so that on demand they could immediately set out on the road. For their work they received a salary from the state. However, later the king decided not to pay them a salary, as he believed that they were already living well, harvesting from their arable land. After that, the coachmen of all provinces began to scatter.
There was a tax, the so-called "pit duty" for villagers and townspeople. Coachmen got rid of taxes.
Value for power
What is a coachman for a state in the 16-17th centuries? Then these drivers were of great importance for Russia: they delivered boyars from one province to another on official business, ordinary people to trading places, and also transported a lot of goods. With the help of coachmen, communication was provided between Moscow and the outskirts of the state. Cab drivers were very important for the economy of Russia until the widespread development of railway transport.
Examples of usage in literature
The image of the coachman also influenced the culture and literature of Russia, as it was described in many literary works, poems and songs:
- "Well, master," shouted the driver, "trouble: snowstorm!". (A. Pushkin, "The Captain's Daughter").
- "Steppe and steppe all around, the way is far, in that deaf steppe the coachman froze." (Russian folk song).
- "Having put the driver to sleep, the yellow sun froze…". (V. Vysotsky).
Now you know the meaning of the word "coachman".
