Editing Arquebus (section)

==Terminology==
[[File:Double arquebus (26194270810).jpg|thumb|A "double arquebus", 15th century]]

The term ''arquebus'' is derived from the Dutch word {{Lang|nl|haakbus}} ("hook gun").<ref name="Friedrich Kluge 1999, pp. 52">Friedrich Kluge, Elmar Seebold (Hrsg.): Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache. 23. Aufl., de Gruyter: Berlin/New York 1999, pp. 52.</ref> which was applied to an assortment of [[firearms]] from the 15th to 17th centuries. It originally referred to "a [[hand cannon|hand-gun]] with a hook-like projection or lug on its under surface, useful for steadying it against battlements or other objects when firing".{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=426}} The first certain attestation of the term ''arquebus'' dates back to 1364, when the lord of [[Milan]] [[Bernabò Visconti]] recruited 70 ''archibuxoli'', although in this case it almost certainly referred to a [[hand cannon]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bargigia |first1=Fabio |last2=Romanoni |first2=Fabio |title=La diffusione delle armi da fuoco nel dominio visconteo (secolo XIV) |journal=Revista Universitaria de Historia Militar |date=2017 |volume=6 |page=144 |url=https://www.academia.edu/33931785 |access-date=8 February 2023 |language=it |issn=2254-6111}}</ref> The ''arquebus'' has at times been known as the ''harquebus'', ''harkbus'', ''hackbut'',{{sfn|Purton|2010|p=422}} ''hagbut'',<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=hagbut |url=http://www.websters1913.com/words/Hagbut |year=1909 |encyclopedia=[[Webster's Dictionary|Webster's New International Dictionary]] |edition=1913 reprint |location=Springfield, Massachusetts |publisher=G. & C. Merriam |oclc=51981071}}</ref> ''archibugio'', ''haakbus'', ''schiopo'',{{sfn|Purton|2010|p=427}} ''sclopus'',{{sfn|Purton|2010|p=117}} ''tüfenk'',{{sfn|Ágoston|2008|p=19}} ''tofak'',{{sfn|Ágoston|2008|p=58}} ''matchlock'', and ''firelock''.{{sfn|Lidin|2002|p=3}}

===Musket===
The musket, essentially a large arquebus, was introduced around 1521, but fell out of favor by the mid-16th century due to the decline of armor. The term, however, remained and ''musket'' became a generic descriptor for smoothbore gunpowder weapons fired from the shoulder ("shoulder arms") into the mid-19th century.{{sfn|Chase|2003|p=92}} At least on one occasion ''musket'' and ''arquebus'' were used interchangeably to refer to the same weapon,{{sfn|Adle|2003|p=475}} and even referred to as an ''arquebus musket''.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=165}} A Habsburg commander in the mid-1560s once referred to muskets as ''double arquebuses''.{{sfn|Chase|2003|p=92}} The ''matchlock'' firing mechanism also became a common term for the arquebus after it was added to the firearm. Later flintlock firearms were sometimes called ''[[fusilier|fusils]]'' or ''fuzees''.{{sfn|Peterson|1965|pp=12–14}}