Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Covinus

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

COVI'NUS. A war-car employed by the Belgae and ancient Britons, the precise character of which is not ascertained, beyond the fact that it was armed with scythes, and probably had a covering over head. Mela, iii. 6. Lucan. i. 426. Sil. Ital. xvii. 417.

2. A travelling carriage adopted by the later Romans, after the model of the Belgian car; and which, from a passage of Martial (Ep. xii. 24.), it is inferred, was driven by the owner, who sat inside, and not by a coachman. In the same passage, it is also distinguished from the carruca and essedum, but without any particulars.