History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 123

15th century and is then found in the Nav. Acc. Hen. VII. Gaffle (1497), a steel lever
for bending the crossbow; probably ad. Du. gaffel, fork; in Du. the word also has the
sense of a rest for a musket.
Terms for hand fire-arms are: Hackbush, Hagbush (1484), an early form of fire-arm;
from M.Flem. haec-, haegbusse, hakebus, but perhaps immediately from the rare OF.
forms borrowed from Flem., haquebusche (1475) and harquebusche (1478); the
corresponding MLG. forms are hake-, hakelbusse, from haken, hake, hook, and
bühse, busse, bus, gun, fire-arm, literally hook-gun, so called from the hook, originally
attached to a point of support.
The derivatives, Hack-, Hagbushier, Hagbusser (1524), are by the addition of the
suffixes -ier or -er. Variants are Hackbut, Hagbut (1541-2), an early kind of portable
fire-arm; ad. 15th-and 16th-century F. haquebut, -bute, ad. M.Du. hakebus or MLG.
hakebusse; later in the 16th century this F. form passed, under the influence of It.
archibuso, through the intermediate harquebute, to harquebuse, arquebuse.
The derivatives, Hackbutter, Hagbutter (1544-8), are by the addition of the suffix -er.
Hackbuteer, -ier (c. 1610) are ad. 16th-century F. hacquebutier. Hake (1548), a short
fire-arm used in the 16th century; apparently an abbreviation of haquebut, hagbut,
originally in half-hake or demi-hake, i.e. half-hackbut, applied to a fire-arm of shorter
length than the hackbut; it would appear that for this the simple hake, haque was soon
substituted. Half-hake (1538) and Demi-hake (1541) are earlier.
Bus (1549), harquebus; ad. e.mod.Du. bus, gun, in Kilian busse. Another form is
Bowse (1556), ad. Du. buis (M.Du. busse, LG. büsse). Blunderbuss (1654), a short
gun with a large bore, is the Du. donderbus, with the same meaning, but perverted in
form after blunder, perhaps with some allusion to its blind or random firing; it may be a
playful perversion of the Du. word; compare blunderhead, an alteration of the earlier
dunderhead, a blundering, muddleheaded fellow.
There are two terms for the fire apparatus by means of which the old firelocks were
discharged. Lunt (1550, from Sc.), a slow-match, also a torch; ad. Du. lont, a match.
Linstock (1575), a staff about 3 feet long, having a pointed foot to stick in the ground
or deck, and a forked head to hold the lighted match; in the 16th century lint-,
linestocke, ad. (with assimilation to lint and line), Du. lontstok, from lont, match, and
stok, stick.
There are two names for cannon. Slang (1521), a species of cannon, a serpentine or
culverin; ad. M.Du. or MLG. slange (Du. slang, G. schlange), serpent, cannon.
Cartow (1650), a kind of cannon, also called a quarter cannon, which threw a ball of a
quarter of a hundredweight; apparently ad. 16th-century Flem. kartouwe (G. cartaun,
It. courtaun), a quarter cannon, carthoun, 25-pounder, as compared with the largest
siege-gun, a 100-pounder.
Some names for soldiers' accoutrements and equipment were borrowed.

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