Limousine

Limousin is a rugged, rural area in central France, famous for its cattle, its chestnuts and its rain. For centuries its shepherds wore a distinctive heavy hooded cloak to keep out the weather on long days in the hills. The cloak was so closely associated with the region that it was simply called a limousine — meaning "from Limousin."

In the early days of the motor car, around 1902, someone noticed that a certain style of enclosed automobile looked remarkably like a person wearing that hooded cloak. The driver sat outside, exposed to the elements, while the passengers sat behind in a covered compartment. The covered section, draped over the back of the car like a hood, reminded the French of a shepherd's limousine.

The name stuck. As automobiles evolved, limousine came to mean any large, luxurious enclosed car — especially one with a glass partition between the driver and passengers. By the mid-twentieth century it had shortened to "limo" and become a worldwide symbol of status and ceremony: proms, weddings, diplomatic arrivals, and red carpets.

The irony is almost too neat. The shepherds of Limousin were among the poorest people in France. Their heavy wool cloak was purely practical, designed for long days on rain-soaked hillsides. Today their cloak's name is the word for the most extravagant vehicle on the road — a shepherd's rain gear that climbed the social ladder further than any word has a right to.