manuballista

Latin

Etymology

From manus (“hand”) + ballista (“ballista”).

Noun

manuballista f (genitive manuballistae); first declension

1. 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.

2. (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.