Where does the word "bus" come from?

The word "bus" is a contraction of "omnibus", a form of the Latin word "omnes" meaning "all" or "everyone". It appeared in Paris in 1819–20 as "(voiture) omnibus" meaning "(carriage) for all", See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus#Etymology

You don't often hear the full form "omnibus" these days. But here is a nice little song about the famous London double-decker omnibus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVHbF0jAzMw

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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62 Comments

Joe Mangan

My goodness! The venom engendered here over a few bits of trivia makes a snakepit look like a children's playground. I'm so glad it's not a game of football. It's only a quiz for goodness' sake.

Jacqueline Tattam

Omnibus is the plural dative form of the Latin ’omnes’ (all) - meaning ‘for all’.It is also the plural ablative form meaning ‘by all’.

Eileen Dunn

Thought it came from omnibus.

Steve McVey

Sim, it's a clear and simple enough explanation but thank you for demonstrating your ignorance for us all to see.

Eve

First word I thought of was omnibus...so that's how I picked the right answer

Micheline Ratcliffe

Latin will help you ever time ... did 4 yrs of it and at age 15 was expected to translate Caesar's diaries ... what fun for a teenager !!!

marilynmitri

The wheels of the bus go 'round and 'round

pdeloriol

it is the shortened form of autobus/omnibus!

Stephen Forest

Omnes, Omni was the clue, yay me!

fdeisner

According to the Online Entomology Dictionary bus (n.) 1832, "public street carriage," originally a colloquial abbreviation of omnibus (q.v.). The modern English noun is nothing but a Latin dative plural ending. To miss the bus, in the figurative sense of "lose an opportunity," is from 1901, Australian English (OED has a figurative miss the omnibus from 1886). Busman's holiday "leisure time spent participating in what one does for a living" (1893) probably is a reference to London omnibus drivers riding the buses on their days off. More likely a better reference than Wikipedia.