manuballista
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Latin
Etymology
From manus (“hand”) + ballista (“ballista”).
Noun
manuballista f (genitive manuballistae); first declension
- A torsion-powered hand weapon, or possibly a crossbow
- The only contemporary account of crossbows is by Vegetius, who writes:
- Erant tragularii, qui ad manuballistas vel arcuballistas dirigebant sagittas.
- Some scholars take this to mean these were different weapons, manuballistae being torsion-powered and arcuballistae being crossbows. In modern Spanish and Italian a crossbow is called ballesta and balestra respectively, while in French and German it's called arbalète and Armbrust.
- (New Latin) gun, firearm
Declension
First-declension noun.
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | manuballista | manuballistae |
| genitive | manuballistae | manuballistārum |
| dative | manuballistae | manuballistīs |
| accusative | manuballistam | manuballistās |
| ablative | manuballistā | manuballistīs |
| vocative | manuballista | manuballistae |
Synonyms
- (gun, firearm): sclopetum, arma ignifera
References
- “manuballista”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- manuballista in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.