- musket
- "firearm for infantry," c.1587, from M.Fr. mousquette, a kind of sparrow-hawk, dim. of mosca "a fly," from L. musca (see midge). 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 M.Fr. word was borrowed earlier (c.1425) in its literal sense of "sparrow-hawk." Musketeer "soldier armed with a musket" is 1590, from Fr. mousquetaire, from mousquette.
- fusilier
- 1680, "soldier armed with a musket," from Fr. fusilier, from O.Fr. fusil "musket," earlier "steel for a tinderbox," from V.L. *focilis (petra) "(stone) producing fire," from L. focus "hearth," in V.L. "fire." Retained by certain regiments of the British army that were formerly armed with fusils.
- dragoon
- 1622, from Fr. dragon "carbine, musket," because the guns the soldiers carried "breathed fire" like a dragon. The verb is from 1689, lit. "to force by the agency of dragoons" (which were used by the Fr. kings to persecute Protestants).
- Betsy
- fem. pet name, a dim. of Bet, itself short for Elizabet or Elizabeth. Betsy as the typical a pet name for a favorite firearm is attested in Amer.Eng. by 1856 (cf. Brown Bess, by 1785, British army slang for the old flintlock musket).
- fusillade
- "simultaneous discharge of firearms," 1801, from Fr. fusillade, from fusiller "to shoot," from fusil "musket" (see fusilier).
- fuse/fuze (n.)
- 1644, from It. fuso "spindle" (so called because the originals were long, thin tubes filled with gunpowder), from L. fusus "spindle," of uncertain origin. Influenced by Fr. fusée "spindleful of hemp fiber," and obsolete Eng. fusee "musket fired by a fuse." Meaning of "device that breaks an electrical circuit" first recorded 1884, so named for its shape, but erroneously attributed to fuse (v.) because it melts.
- bandolier
- 1570s, "shoulder belt (for a wallet)," from Fr. bandouiliere (16c.), from It. bandoliera or Sp. bandolera, from dim. of banda "a scarf, sash," a Gmc. loan-word related to Goth. bandwa (see band (2)). In some cases, directly from Spanish to English as bandoleer. Meaning "ammunition belt for a musket" is from 1590s; hence bandolero "highwayman, robber" (1832), from Spanish, lit. "man who wears a bandoleer."
- flint
- O.E. flint "flint, rock," common Gmc. (cf. M.Du. vlint, O.H.G. flins, Dan. flint), from PIE *splind- "to split, cleave," from base *(s)plei- "to splice, split" (cf. Gk. plinthos "brick, tile," O.Ir. slind "brick"). Transferred senses were in O.E. Flintlock as a type of musket-firing mechanism is from 1683. Flinty "hard-hearted" is from 1536.
- brown
- O.E. brun "dark," only developing a definite color sense 13c., from P.Gmc. *brunaz, from PIE *bher- "shining, brown" (cf. Lith. beras "brown"), related to *bheros "dark animal" (cf. beaver, bear, and Gk. phrynos "toad," lit. "the brown animal"). The O.E. word also had a sense of "brightness, shining," now preserved only in burnish. The Gmc. word was adopted into Romantic (cf. M.L. brunus, It., Sp. bruno, Fr. brun). Brown Bess, slang name for old British Army flintlock musket, first recorded 1785.