Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 204, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 August 1915 — Origin of War Terms. [ARTICLE]

Origin of War Terms.

With the exception of shrapnel, named after its inventor, an English colonel, there are very few war terms now in use which have a British origin. “Grenadier” is generally supposed to come from the French. The word ifc, however, of German birth, and originally was “grenatier,” the force owing their name to the handgrenades with which they were armed. The word “musket” has an Italian derivation —“moschetto," which was really a'species of small sparrow-hawk. In ancient times and in the middle ages the name musket was used to designate a small mortar which threw arrows. When gunpowder was invented a small cannon was baptized “musket,” and later the rifle of the ordinary infantryman earned the name, while the whole unit was called “musketeers.”