EuroLex/F/Musket


 * Original language: French
 * Original form and meaning: mousquet - 1. musket

(Note: If the status is not specifically indicated then the word is stylistically neutral and generally used; if earlier meaning and status equals current use the former may be expressed by writing "dito". Cf. also the project guidelines.)

Annotations
Etymology: from MF mousquette, a kind of sparrow-hawk, diminutive of mosca "a fly", from L musca. The hawk so called either for its size or because it looks speckled when in flight. Early firearms were often given names of beasts (cf. dragoon), and the equivalent word was used in It to mean "an arrow for a crossbow". The MF word was borrowed earlier (c.1425) in its literal sense of "sparrow-hawk".

Musketeer "soldier armed with a musket" is 1590, from F mousquetaire, from mousquette.

Source: http://www.etymonline.com

Information on Other Languages
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