Kibitka

A kibitka on sleigh runners

A kibitka (Russian: кибитка, from the Arabic kubbat, 'dome') is a Russian type of carriage with a cloth cover stretched over wooden bows. It is roughly made, and is held together with ropes, often making a sling seat upon which a hay-filled cushion might be placed. It may be installed on wheels or sleigh runners. It could be used as a posting wagon.

In Russian literature and folklore, the term kibitka is used in reference to Gypsy wagons.

The use in the Russian Empire of kibitki to transport disgraced noblemen into exile, and convicts to katorga forced labor inspired the German-language term Kibitkenjustiz and the equivalent English-language concept of "kibitka justice".

Previously, in the Russian Empire the term was used in reference to a yurt of steppe nomads. In these times there was a "kibitka tax" levied upon the steppe nomads for any type of nomadic temporary and semi-temporary dwellings.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Smith, D.J.M. (1988). A Dictionary of Horse Drawn Vehicles. J. A. Allen & Co. Ltd. p. 101. ISBN 0851314686. OL 11597864M.
  2. ↑ Berkebile, Donald H. (1978). Carriage Terminology: An Historical Dictionary. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. p. 183. ISBN 9781935623434. OL 4534466M.
  3. 1 2 "Kibitka". Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, vol. 10, Leipzig 1907, p. 880 (in German). Auf solchen Kibitken wurden früher mißliebige Standespersonen in die Länder am Ural gebracht, daher der Ausdruck Kibitkenjustiz. [In the past, undesirable members of the nobility were transported to the countries of the Ural Mountains on such kibitken, hence the term kibitken justice.]
  4. ↑ von Eckardt, Julius Wilhelm Albert (1881). "Der Ausgang Alexanders II.". Von Nicolaus I. zu Alexander III.: St. Petersburger Beiträge zur neuesten Russischen Geschichte (in German). Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot. p. 397. Retrieved 23 January 2025. Unter Kibitkenjustiz versteht man die Gewohnheit Missliebige auf dem 'Verwaltungswege' in das Land am Ural zu befördern, was bei 'Standespersonen' in früherer Zeit per Kibitke geschah. [Kibitken justice refers to the custom of transporting undesirables to the country in the Urals via 'administrative channels', which in earlier times was done by kibitke for 'persons of standing'.]
  5. ↑ Seignobos, Charles (1901). "The Russian Empire and Poland". Histoire politique de l'Europe contemporaine [A Political History of Contemporary Europe, Since 1814]. Vol. 2. London: William Heinemann. pp. 604–605. Retrieved 23 January 2025. Russian law did not guarantee free choice of a dwelling place, but gave officials the right to assign a residence to the tsar's subjects in any part of the Empire, even in Siberia. Russian officials could seize and transport to Siberia by administrative means persons of forbidden opinions, sometimes even those who on accusation had been tried and acquitted. Transportation was usually effected by Kibitka, springless vans, - whence arose the popular expression 'Kibitka justice,' - and the family of a suspect often knew not even where he had been taken.
  6. ↑ "КИБИ́ТКА" [KIBITKA]. Great Russian Encyclopedia (in Russian).
  7. ↑  "Кибиточная подать" . Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian). 1906. [Kibitnaya tax]