{"id":23241,"date":"2024-01-20T13:56:38","date_gmt":"2024-01-20T13:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=23241"},"modified":"2024-01-20T13:56:39","modified_gmt":"2024-01-20T13:56:39","slug":"lady-gunilda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=23241","title":{"rendered":"Lady Gunilda"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When is a gun not a gun? <\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/suburbanadventure\/14798739392\/in\/photolist-oxHpDb-TwFZMA-acq3Yo-eVKxv-Jypooa-6ioH6f-ucZtp-2jr6C5J-4LjAZW-2okbizW-2jqP7fr-4k511S-3J2XE2-4Lfnme-5iNxrT-9UPbZW-9ULkeF-226G3F4-jWyAq-F4Wcvi-2oiBTSr-2oPPNdJ-2jr6Cnn-5XPZhS-2jr6CbW-2jr6C2N-2jr3Tq1-2jr6CaP-ancZN5-2FfKBU-4DwqvV-4DwqrF-2ok6ve4-4DAFDN-2nfNBHX-4MtYg8-TpAHvG-5cqiuo-2n6CtJh-2n6Cton-ucZww-23a7vcy-2n2yGoe-ucZxs-2mKyLb2-ucZvw-ucZuu-2mKxnpW-61q4W4-5gTk6P\" title=\"Ballista\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/2912\/14798739392_9e863b1247_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" alt=\"Ballista\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The word <strong>gun<\/strong> nowadays refers to \u201cA device for projecting a hard object very forcefully; a firearm or cannon, etc\u201d. However, originally it wasn\u2019t just used for firearms.  The word possibly comes from the name of a ballista, a type of giant crossbow (see above), that was used at Windsor Castle in England in the 14th century &#8211; Domina Gunilda (Lady Gunilda).<\/p>\n<p>An inventory of the munitions of Windsor Castle conducted in 1330-31 included the entry:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Una magna balista de cornu qu\u00e6 vocatur Domina Gunilda.<br \/>\n    (A great ballista of horn which is called Lady Gunilda.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Not long after that, the word <em>gonne<\/em> starts to appear. It was also written <em>gon<\/em>, <em>gonn<\/em>, <em>goone<\/em> or <em>gun<\/em>, and referred to:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>A trebuchet or similar kind of pellet-firing siege engine.<\/li>\n<li>A cannon or other large firearm; a piece of artillery.<\/li>\n<li>A portable handheld firearm; a gun (i.e. a hand cannon).<\/li>\n<li>A projectile (rare).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Later, it began to be used specifically for firearms.<\/p>\n<p>The name <strong>Gunilda<\/strong> comes from the Old Norse name <strong>Gunnhildr<\/strong>, from <em>gunnr<\/em> (war) and\u200e<em> hildr<\/em> (battle). It\u2019s a female name that\u2019s poetically translated as \u201cbattle maid\u201d. Other versions include <strong>Gunhilda<\/strong>, <strong>Gun(n)hild<\/strong>, <strong>Gunill(a)<\/strong>, <strong>Gunnel<\/strong>, <strong>Hildur<\/strong>, <strong>Hilda<\/strong> and <strong>Hildegard<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a little song from Hildegard von Blingin\u2019, because why not?<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cRIfsFefatg?si=xJo-BeSiD8LwZoo-\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Other names from the same roots include <strong>Brunhild(a)<\/strong>, <strong>Imelda<\/strong> and <strong>Matilda<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Sources: <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/gun#English\">https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/gun#English<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/gunne#Middle_English\">https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/gunne#Middle_English<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wordorigins.org\/big-list-entries\/gun\">https:\/\/www.wordorigins.org\/big-list-entries\/gun<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic\/hildiz\">https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic\/hildiz<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When is a gun not a gun? The word gun nowadays refers to \u201cA device for projecting a hard object very forcefully; a firearm or cannon, etc\u201d. However, originally it wasn\u2019t just used for firearms. The word possibly comes from the name of a ballista, a type of giant crossbow (see above), that was used [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,107,15,26,36,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-etymology","category-latin","category-middle-english","category-old-norse","category-words-and-phrases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23241"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23246,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23241\/revisions\/23246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}