What is a horse? Lexical meaning of a word

Thanks to the achievements of progress, in the modern world there are many different ways to travel. However, a little more than a century ago, in the pre-electric era, man did not have such a wide choice of means of transportation. On the other hand, at that time there were some types of transport that the modern man in the street is difficult to imagine, since they disappeared. For example, the meaning of the word "Konka" today is unfamiliar to most of the city residents. But in the XIX century. This mode of transport was very popular. What is its peculiarity and why is it obsolete? Let's figure it out, and also find out if there are other interpretations of this noun.

Ukrainian River Conca

Considering the lexical meaning of the word "horse", it is worth considering that this name simultaneously means several concepts at once. Strange as it may seem, they are practically unrelated.

First, the concept of "Konka" is the name of the river in the Zaporozhye region (Ukraine). In Ukrainian, this pond is called "Kinska" ("Horse").

This hydronym from the noun "horse" was formed. The fact is that in the XVIII century. This river was the border of the Russian Empire with the Crimean Khanate. The inhabitants of Crimea called this reservoir "Horse Water" ("Konku Ilkysu") because of the huge number of wild horses wandering on the banks of the river.

Conca in France

Considering the question of what Konka is, one can not fail to mention the French commune called Conca (Konka). It is located in Corsica.

Formed this commune was in the very beginning of the XIX century. And to this day is one of the favorite holiday destinations for tourists around the world in the summer.

Unlike the Ukrainian Konki, the French has nothing to do with horses, their names are simply consonant with each other - this is the so-called interlingual homonymy.

Dario Konka

The meaning of this word as hydronym and toponym has already been discussed above. Now it's worth paying attention to a well-known person who has such a name. It's about the beloved Argentine midfielder Dario Leonardo Conca, who loved many football fans.

Despite his small height (168 cm) and solid age, as an athlete (born 1983), this man is today one of the best and highest paid football players in the world.

Although Dario was born in Argentina, most of his career, he played for the Chinese football club Shanghai Telecommunications. However, since December 2017, perhaps, everything will change, and he will continue his career in the club "Flamengo", for which he is playing now. If you do not decide to finish his career or become a coach.

The most famous meaning of the word "horse"

In addition to proper names, the term "horse" means the name of the now obsolete type of public transport, called a horse tram.

In fact, the horse and railway city road, through which the horse traveled in the XIX century, was the ancestor of a modern electric tram.

Features of this mode of transport

Having dealt with the fact that such a horse, it is worth considering in more detail the features of this type of transport.

In fact, it was an intermediate link between a horse-drawn carriage and a tram.

From the crew of the horse retained the external appearance of the car, as well as the tradition of using horses as a driving force. However, unlike wagons and wagons, an equestrian tram did not go anywhere, but only where rails were laid. This made it possible to move the loaded crew much better and faster with just a couple of horses. At the same time, on extraordinarily difficult parts of the path, additional horses had to be harnessed in the competition.

By the way, because of the unusual kind and mode of transportation, many called this type of transport a tram on oats, bridle or horse-drawn tram.

Appearance in the Russian Empire

Having considered the question of what a horse is, it's time to pay attention to the history of this unusual mode of transport.

For the first time, an equestrian tram appeared in the USA in 1828. Over the next twenty years the horse conquered all of Europe. During this time, practically all progressive cities of the world began to use this mode of transport. Most of all the koans were in the USA and Germany. The least is in Switzerland.

In the Russian Empire, the first horse-railroad city road was built in 1854, naturally, in the capital of the country. However, at that time it was used to transport goods, not passengers. And only six years later in St. Petersburg, really earned a horse as a kind of passenger urban transport. Since that moment, her popularity continued to grow.

Over the next thirty years, the total length of horse-drawn railways in the Russian Empire grew to six hundred kilometers. Thus, Russia took the third place in the length of the rails for the world's cones.

By the beginning of XX century. In almost all major cities of the Russian Empire, horse trams were already actively used.

Sunset horse-rail city roads

Contrary to the huge popularity, by the beginning of the XX century. Electric tram became gradually, but inexorably to displace the competition (the definition of this word was given above). Despite the lower cost of a new mode of transport, most owners of equestrian railways actively fought against this electric miracle. Realizing that the trams are the future, while they did not want to risk, fearing losing their investments in the competition. As a result, in many cities, tram rails were simply stacked near the paths of the horse.

Faced with this situation, many investors who want to use electrical innovation decided to go the other way. They simply began to buy horse-iron rails and adapt them to tram tracks.

Such a policy required less financial investment and was very beneficial for workers. The fact is that, having redesigned the equipment for the horse to the tram, the master did not fire the workers, but retrained them. Thus, not only did they not lose their jobs, but in some cases they received an increase in their wages.

In the Russian Empire, the first cities to replace the competition for trams were Koenigsberg and Moscow. So, in the future capital of the USSR since 1912, the equestrian tram has never been used again.

Beginning in the second half of 1917, practically all the territory of the former empire was closed. The last city that stopped using this type of transport was Minsk. This happened in 1928, when he was already a member of the USSR.

Where was the last horse tram in the world

Having dealt with the question: "What is a horse?" - and also having considered all the meanings of this word, it's time to find out if this mode of transport has survived somewhere in the world today.

The last equestrian tram existed in the British city of Douglas, located on the Isle of Man. From 1876 until 1927, he daily, without days off and holidays, drove residents and visitors of the city.

However, gradually the profitability of this type of transport began to fall, so from 1927 Douglas's horse worked only during the summer holidays - from May to September.

During the Second World War, all horses were confiscated by the government for military needs. For this reason, until 1946 the horse-railway city road did not work.

In the post-war period, the Douglas Horse worked for almost seventy years.

However, in recent decades, it has stopped paying off, bringing the city instead of profits solid losses. For a time, Douglas's leadership kept her as a means to attract tourists to the city. But in early 2016 it was decided to close this mode of transport forever. Thus, with the closure of the Douglas horse, the equestrian tram has ceased to exist forever, becoming the destiny of history.