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

References

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