Armbrust

German de 2017 November 14 Etymology From de gmh armbrust (12th century, variants armbrost, armborst, armbrast, armbst), from de la-med arbalista, from de la-lat arcuballista, from de la arcus bow + la ballista ancient military engine for hurling missiles (compare en arbalest); modified, possibly by folk etymology, but as Grimm notes, the German noun was neuter well into the early modern period which excludes direct interpretation as a compound de Arm arm Brust breast. The feminine gender became predominant in the 18th century, clearly motivated by popular etymology as a compound in -de Brust, also made explicit in hyphenated spelling Arm-Brust. Gottsched (1748) suggested a derivation from de Arm arm Rüstung armament, armour, in which he was followed by Boeheim (1890). Pronunciation de /ˈarmbrʊst/ de De-Armbrust.ogg <<Germany>> (<<Berlin>>) de ʊst 2 Noun f,^e:e crossbow, arbalest de 1792 C. Meiners; L. I. Spittler Neues Göttingisches Historisches Magazin vol. 1, part 2, page 305 Zu den Waffen, die nicht allen Teutschen Völkern gemein, sondern nur gewissen Stämmen derselben eigenthümlich waren, gehörte die Armbrust. The crossbow was one of the weapons that were not common to all German peoples, but peculiar only to certain tribes. Declension f,^e:e Derived terms de Armbrustschütze Further reading de Weapons