carriage: [14] Carriage is literally ‘carrying’. It is an Old Northern French derivative of the verb carier, in the sense ‘transport in a vehicle’. At first it meant simply ‘conveyance’ in the abstract sense, but in the 15th century more concrete meaning began to emerge: ‘load, luggage’ (now obsolete) and ‘means of conveyance, vehicle’. By the 18th century the latter had become further specialized to ‘horse-drawn wheeled vehicle for carrying people’ (as opposed to goods). => carry
late 14c., "act of carrying, means of conveyance; wheeled vehicles collectively," from Anglo-French and Old North French cariage "cart, carriage, action of transporting in a vehicle" (Old French charriage, Modern French charriage), from carier "to carry" (see carry (v.)). Meaning "individual wheeled vehicle" is c. 1400; specific sense of "horse-drawn, wheeled vehicle for hauling people" first attested 1706; extended to railway cars by 1830. Meaning "way of carrying one's body" is 1590s. Carriage-house attested from 1761.
