A barouche, developed from the calash or calèche of the eighteenth-centuryCasanova mentions a calèche à 2 roues first in 1742, a calèche à 4 roues in 1758 (Gunther), was a fashionable type of horse-drawn carriage in the 19th century. It was a four-wheeled vehicle with two double seats, a collapsible hood folding like a bellows over the back seat and an outside box seat at the front for the driver. It was drawn by pairs of high-quality horses and was used principally for leisure driving in the summer.

The word barouche is an anglicisation of the German word barutsche, via the Italian biroccio and ultimately from the Latin birotus, "two-wheeled". The name thus became something of a misnomer, as the later form of the carriage had four wheels.

References

• Pablo Günther, "The Casanova Tour": two-wheeled carriages": Chair, chaise and calash

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