artillery

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ɑːˈtɪl.ər.i/, US /ɑːrˈtɪl.ɚ.i/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman artillerie, Old French artillerie, implements of war,^[2][3][4] from artillier, to equip with engines of war.^[2][3] The verb, whose spelling was influenced by art, skill, may come from atillier, an alteration of atirier, to arrange, from a-, to, and tire, order, rank (see tier);^[2][4][5] other sources refer it to Medieval Latin articulum, art, skill.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Munitions or implements of war, especially engines for throwing missiles: about 1386 in the OED, about 1390 in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Originally any engine for discharging missiles, including catapults, slings and bows, was artillery;^[3][6] Trench quotes Ascham's Toxophilus on the Parthians, whose “artillery” was archery.^[7] The modern restriction to large guns and cannon dates from the 16th century, about 1533 in the OED.^[6][3] Technically it covers firearms discharged from carriages, as opposed to small arms.^[3] The branch of an army using such guns is called artillery from 1786.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – munitions of war.^[6]
• 1476 – catapults, bows (obsolete).^[6]
• c. 1533 – large guns.^[6]
• 1786 – the branch of the army.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Large guns such as cannon, howitzers and missile launchers.
2. The branch of an army that uses such guns.
3. The science of using such guns.

Word family

• artillerist
• artilleryman
• field artillery
• heavy artillery
• artillery plant
• light artillery
• medium artillery

Related words

• tier
• attire
• art

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker