3. ARMS AND ACCOUTREMENTS
Accoutrements: French accoutrement; accoutre—ad, to, and coutre, from Latin custos, keeper.
Ammunition: store for defence. Latin ad-munition-em—munire, fortify, defend.
Arms: French armes; Latin arma.
Arsenal: arx navalis, naval citadel, or from an Arabic word.
Ball: French balle; Old German bal, from a Teutonic root found in bulge, bole.
Bayonet: French baïonnette, from Bayonne, where first made.
Belt: Anglo-Saxon belt; Irish balt—from which Latin balteus, a belt, probably derived.
Bullet: French boulet, a little ball—boule, a ball; Latin bulla, a knob.
Cannon: i.e. the gun-barrel; Latin canna, a hollow cane.
Carbine: see Carbineers.
Carriage: Old French charrier, or carier, to carry. [See [Cart].]
Cart: dim. of car; French charette; Old French carete; Low Latin careta—carrus, a car.
Cartridge: corruption of cartrage; French cartouche, a charge wrapped up in a cornet of paper; Latin carta, paper.
Cuirass: see [Cuirassiers].
Equip: Old French esquiper, to equip; Norse skipa, to arrange, shape.
Gun: Old English gonne; Welsh gwn; Gaelic gunna. Derivation unknown, perhaps from Old French mangonel; dim. of Latin mangonum, Greek mangonon, a war machine.
Halberd or Halbard: a long-handled weapon; helve or handle; barde, axe.
Haversack (used in 18th cent.): from German haver-sack, sack for oats.
Helmet: Anglo-Saxon helm; Teutonic root hal or kal, to cover.
Howitzer: German hautbitze (so written by Gen. Wolfe about 1750), older hauffnitz, from haufnice, a sling. A Czech word of time of the Hussites (15th cent.).
Magazine: storehouse. Spanish magacen; Arabic makhzan, storehouse.
Matross: old word for a gunner. German matrose; Latin matarius, a man who uses a mat or hammock.
Mortar: called from resemblance to apothecary’s mortar. Old French mortier; Latin mortarium, from martulus, a hammer.
Musket: French musquet, from the Spanish, meaning a sparrow-hawk, probably from Latin musca, fly, as being the smallest of hawks. First used for the firearm, 16th cent.
Ordnance = Artillery, from the ordinance to regulate calibre and size of guns (15th cent.).
Pistol: from the city of Pistoia in Italy, where made (early 16th cent.).
Pontoon: French ponton; Italian pontone, a great bridge; Latin pont-em, bridge.
Pouch: Old French pouche—poche, pocket; Celtic poca, a bag.
Shell: Anglo-Saxon scell, a thin covering; Teutonic root skal, to separate, peel off; a hollow ball.
Shrapnel: a shell with balls inside, invented by General Shrapnel, British Army (early 19th cent.).