The word van is simply a shortened caravan, and means different things everywhere
Van began as a clipped form of caravan, first recorded for a covered goods wagon in 1829. Today an American might mean a minivan or a box trailer, a Briton means something that carries goods only, and in Japan a light van is named for its windows, not its weight.
Caravan once meant a convoy of wagons, and by the 1670s it could also mean a single covered wagon. Van, its shortened form, appears in English records from 1829. The core meaning, a boxy vehicle for goods or people, is shared everywhere, but the edges differ. Vans range from tiny microvans and passenger MPVs to large step vans used by couriers and postal services, and broadcasters fit some out as mobile studios.
In Britain, van covers goods vehicles only, on road or rail, where a railway van is what Americans call a boxcar. Passenger versions are people carriers or MPVs, and bigger ones minibuses. The Telegraph popularised White Van Man for the tradesman in a white Ford Transit or Mercedes Sprinter, and a man with a van now means a one-person removals business. Australians use van for minivans, minibuses and their home-grown panel vans, and sometimes for a caravan, which Americans call a travel trailer. Americans also say van for box-shaped semi-trailers, with dry vans for ordinary cargo and refrigerated reefers for cold goods.
In India vans such as the Maruti Suzuki Omni are a common way to ferry children to school when parents are busy or buses are full. Early Japanese models included the Kurogane Baby and Mazda Bongo. There, a light van can even be a basic station wagon or hatchback trimmed for business use, the word light referring to the glazing all round.
American vans descend from the sedan deliveries of the 1930s to 1950s. The first true generation, in the 1960s, copied the size of the Volkswagen Bus, and the Corvair version even copied its rear air-cooled engine, while the first Ford Econoline put the engine between and behind the front seats. Ford later moved it forward under a short hood, creating the full-size van. From 1971 Dodge offered a 15-passenger model that launched commuter vanpools as an alternative to carpooling.
Source: Van
