Covīnus
or
Covīnnus (Keltic,
kowain). A kind
of car, the spokes of which were armed with long sickles, and which was used as a
scythe-chariot chiefly by the ancient Belgians and Britons. The Romans designated by the name
of
covinus a kind of travelling-carriage, which seems to have been
covered on all sides with the exception of the front. It had no seat for a driver, but was
conducted by the traveller himself, who sat inside (
Mart.xii.
24). There must have been a great similarity between the Belgian scythe-chariot and the
Roman travelling-carriage, as the name of the one was transferred to the other; and we may
reasonably conclude that the Belgian car was likewise covered on all sides except the front,
and that it was occupied by one man, the
covinarius only, who was, by the
structure of his car, sufficiently protected. The
covinarii (the word
occu[rmacr ]s only in Tacitus) seem to have constituted a regular and distinct part of a
British army (
Agric. 35, 36). See
Essedum.
