Philobiblon

Had I been forced to guess when wheelbarrows were invented I would have put it as quite recently – perhaps down to some efficiency-seeking Victorian builder – but my daily OED email proves me wrong.

The oldest usage given is from c.1340:
Sikeman lith in hors-bere..And the crepul in the wilbarewe.

(I’m struggling to translate that, though it looks fun… Any thoughts?)

In fact lots of the early usages seem to refer to escapades. From c. 1600: “To be jaunted up and down London Streets in a lethern wheelbarrow.” But I guess it was more fun to write about that than about builders or stablehands at work.

For today at least you can read the full entry here, where you can also sign up for the email.