Or, as Art Linklater used to say: "Kids say the darndest things"
For some reason this came into my head yesterday during a long trip back from a medical appointment through heavy traffic. (Although I don't drive an Audi). The company was founded in 1899 and produced its first car in 1901.
From Wikipedia:
*** "let us listen to the other side". My Latin is pretty rusty so had to look it up.
For some reason this came into my head yesterday during a long trip back from a medical appointment through heavy traffic. (Although I don't drive an Audi). The company was founded in 1899 and produced its first car in 1901.
From Wikipedia:
After troubles with Horch chief financial officer, August Horch left Motorwagenwerke and founded in Zwickau on 16 July 1909, his second company, the August Horch Automobilwerke GmbH. His former partners sued him for trademark infringement. The German Reichsgericht (Supreme Court) in Leipzig, eventually determined that the Horch brand belonged to his former company.
Since August Horch was prohibited from using "Horch" as a trade name in his new car business, he called a meeting with close business friends, Paul and Franz Fikentscher from Zwickau. At the apartment of Franz Fikentscher, they discussed how to come up with a new name for the company. During this meeting, Franz's son was quietly studying Latin in a corner of the room. Several times he looked like he was on the verge of saying something but would just swallow his words and continue working, until he finally blurted out [presumably something from his Latin textbook], "Father – audiatur et altera pars***... wouldn't it be a good idea to call it audi instead of horch?"
"Horch!" in German means "Hark!" or "hear", which is "Audi" in the singular imperative form of "audire" – "to listen" – in Latin. The idea was enthusiastically accepted by everyone attending the meeting. On 25 April 1910 the Audi Automobilwerke GmbH Zwickau (from 1915 on Audiwerke AG Zwickau) was entered in the company's register of Zwickau registration court.
And the four ring logo? The merger of four brands:Since August Horch was prohibited from using "Horch" as a trade name in his new car business, he called a meeting with close business friends, Paul and Franz Fikentscher from Zwickau. At the apartment of Franz Fikentscher, they discussed how to come up with a new name for the company. During this meeting, Franz's son was quietly studying Latin in a corner of the room. Several times he looked like he was on the verge of saying something but would just swallow his words and continue working, until he finally blurted out [presumably something from his Latin textbook], "Father – audiatur et altera pars***... wouldn't it be a good idea to call it audi instead of horch?"
"Horch!" in German means "Hark!" or "hear", which is "Audi" in the singular imperative form of "audire" – "to listen" – in Latin. The idea was enthusiastically accepted by everyone attending the meeting. On 25 April 1910 the Audi Automobilwerke GmbH Zwickau (from 1915 on Audiwerke AG Zwickau) was entered in the company's register of Zwickau registration court.
In 1932, Audi merged with Horch, DKW and Wanderer, to form Auto Union.
We now return you to your regular programming.*** "let us listen to the other side". My Latin is pretty rusty so had to look it up.
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