Quote:
Originally Posted by Daddy Big Nuts
Why do we park in a driveway....and drive on a parkway?
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The usages are extended from the base meanings of the words, and are consistent with these meanings.
A "park" is a place set aside for a specific purpose.
The English word way is the equivalent of the Latin word via, meaning "road" or "path." Thus a "parkway" is a road (way) through a park. The road is used by cars, thus you can drive on a parkway, that is you can drive on the road (way) through the park.
The term driveway originated as the designation for the place you drive you car into at the house, like from the gate of the farm, or estate, to the house. When you got to the end of the driveway, you would park the car. ("Park," as in the meaning described above, because you are putting the car in the place designated for the car, that is the car park.)
The term driveway was thus established and continued to be used, even when people with tract houses had only a short "way" to drive to the house, so the place where you drive the car into by any house is called a driveway.
It is still consistent with the base meaning and broader usage of the term in that you "drive" into and onto the "way" designated for the car for that dwelling.