Origin of Automobile Manufacturer Names

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.

I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

In 1889, a German engineer named August Horsch founded a car company.

And after a while, he had differences of opinion with the board,

and he left the company and formed another car company.

And his surname was already in use and trademarked by that company.

So what was he going to call his new car?

Oh, I don’t know.

Well, horsch, I’ll give you a hint.

In German, it’s cognate with English hark, so it means listen.

The name of this brand is cognate with audience.

Oh, oh, Audi.

Yeah.

As in, I’m Audi 5000.

Exactly.

I’m Audi, I’m out of here.

I’m Audi, yeah.

A-U-D-I, I mean audience, auditory, audition, audible.

All those words go back to a Latin word that means to hear.

And so the name of that car company is actually the Latin version of the guy’s German name.

That’s cool.

And so I learned that the other day, and I got so excited, of course, about car names that I went and researched some more.

Oh, no.

So I have another question for you, Grant.

Oh, no. How long do we have?

I don’t think we have enough time for this.

All right.

We have enough time for this one.

Okay, what well-known car brand is named for the central deity of Zoroastrianism, the ancient Persian religion?

I don’t know.

Something with a P.

No, it starts with an M.

Five letters.

Five letters.

Well, I’m thinking these are all longer than five, but Mercedes, Maserati.

It sounds like Maserati, sort of, only shorter.

Mazda, yes.

That car takes its name from Ahura Mazda, who, according to the Mazda website, is the god of wisdom, intelligence, and harmony as a symbol of the origin of both Eastern and Western civilizations and incorporates a desire to achieve world peace and the development of the automobile manufacturing industry.

I don’t really feel like those are the same.

This is what it says on the website.

World peace on one side, growth of the automobile industry on the other.

Hey, I’m down with it.

And then the little symbol of the Mazda shows the company stretching its wings as it soars into the future.

Or you could just drive the car.

Yeah, you could just drive the car.

So something to think about when you’re driving home.

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