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pistol

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈpɪs.təl/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French pistole (“short firearm”),[2][3][4] from German Pistole,[2][4][5][6] from Czech píšťala (“pipe, whistle, firearm”),[2][4][7][8] from pištěti (“to squeak, whistle”), of imitative origin.[2][3] The word spread through Europe after the Hussite Wars of the 15th century, the first in which hand guns mattered.[7] Merriam-Webster traces the German word through Silesian dialect,[5] and Etymonline calls the French word of uncertain origin.[3] The earlier form pistolet (1550), from Middle French pistolet, may instead be connected with Italian pistolese, from the Tuscan town of Pistoia, known for its gunsmiths.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1570, in Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Queen Elizabeth's Academy.[2][9][3]

Semantic evolution

The verb, to shoot with a pistol, is from 1607.[2][9] Troops armed with pistols were called pistols in 1598.[9] The pistol grip is from 1874, and to pistol-whip by 1942.[3] In athletics, to beat the pistol is to make a false start (1905).[9] In the dialects of Cumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire pistol was a term of derision.[10]

Timeline

  • 1550 – pistolet.[2][3]
  • c. 1570 – pistol.[2][9]
  • 1607 – to pistol (verb).[2][9]
  • 1874 – pistol grip.[3]
  • 1905 – to beat the pistol.[9]
  • 1942 – pistol-whip.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A short-barrelled firearm held and fired with one hand; a handgun.
  2. hold a pistol to someone's head: to threaten someone to force them to do something.

Verb

  1. To shoot with a pistol.

Word family

  • pistollike
  • pistoleer
  • pistol-whip
  • air pistol
  • cap pistol
  • horse pistol
  • water pistol
  • machine pistol
  • pistole
  • handgun

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 f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)