Gunne

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A variant or archaic form referring to an early type of firearm designed to discharge projectiles at targets
2. An old or historical term for a weapon that fires bullets or shot, often used in medieval or early modern contexts
3. A rare or obsolete word denoting a mechanical device intended to launch ammunition by explosive force in warfare or hunting situations

Etymology: Before it meant a firearm, this word named a siege engine. In Middle English, "gonne" or "gunne" was used for large projectile-hurling machines such as the mangonel and ballista, long before handheld weapons existed. The name's origin is uncertain. One proposal links it to Old Norse "Gunnhildr," a woman's name, with war machines nicknamed after a woman. Such nicknames were common, but no early text confirms this, so it remains a guess. Other suggestions, such as a link to Latin "volvere" or a dialect word for a hollow tube, are also unproven. The sense shifted to cannon and then to small arms once gunpowder weapons spread in the late medieval period. The older meaning of catapult survives only in historical writing.