Editing Alarm device (section)

==Etymology==
The word ''alarm'' comes from the [[Old French]] ''a l'arme'' meaning "to the arms", or "to the weapons", telling armed men to pick up their weapons and get ready for action because an enemy may have suddenly appeared.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alarm Definition & Meaning |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alarm |access-date=2024-05-12 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref>

The word ''alarum'' is an archaic form of ''alarm''. It was sometimes used as a call to arms in the stage directions of [[English Renaissance theatre|Elizabethan dramas]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Alarum |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/alarum?s=t#collins-section |website=Dictionary.com |access-date=13 December 2020}}</ref> The term comes from the [[Italian language|Italian]] ''all'armi'' and appears 89 times in [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare's]] [[First Folio]].<ref name="Asound">{{cite web |last1=Gillings |first1=Mathew |last2=Wilding |first2=Luke |title=What did an "alarum" sound like? |url=http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/shakespearelang/2017/09/24/what-did-an-alarum-sound-like/ |website=Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's Language |publisher=Encyclopedia of Shakespeare’s language project |access-date=13 December 2020 |date=24 September 2017}}</ref>  Often explained as the off-stage sounds of conflict or disturbance,<ref>{{cite web |title=Alarum definition and meaning |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/alarum |website=Collins English Dictionary |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers}}</ref> recent research suggests a bell or drum may have been used to rouse soldiers from sleep.<ref name="Asound" />