Miquelet

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historical weapon originating in Spain, featuring a flintlock firing mechanism often utilized in military contexts during earlier centuries
2. A firearm design known for its unique ignition system that was prevalent among soldiers and collectors in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries
3. A type of flintlock musket used historically in Spain ; A member of a militia or irregular infantry in Catalonia during the 17th and 18th centuries

Etymology: The name of this Spanish flintlock traces back to a personal name: in Catalan, "miquelet" is a diminutive of "Michael," the same name that gave English "Michael" and its many Romance forms. The Catalan dialect in which it arose used the suffix to mean "little Michael," and the term came to label the men who carried these guns rather than the guns alone. The story most often told links the word to a real man. A Catalan mercenary captain named Miquel, or Miquelot, de Prades is said to have served Cesare Borgia, and his name supposedly stuck to the irregular Catalan fighters who followed such leaders. The tale is plausible enough to be repeated, but it is a supposition rather than a documented fact, so the diminutive origin is the firmer ground. Over the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, "miquelet" came to name both the militia soldiers of Catalonia and the flintlock musket they favoured. The shift from a pet form of a saint's name to a term for a type of gun is a good example of how a nickname can outlast the person it first described.