# Confusing Military Words **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 14, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630 "2004-11-14T00:33:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/1 "2004-11-14T00:33:07Z")
I’m curious about the military words “battery” and “magazine,” which have civilian equivalents that mean nothing like the military meaning. How did these words come about? Did “battery” have a meaning anything like “assault & battery”? ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/2 "2004-11-14T00:47:05Z")
Both are from the French, via the British usage. Battery comes from the French verb “battre”, “to beat,” or “to hit” And yes, it is the same root as “assault and battery.” Magazine (which can be a storehouse as well as a ammunition repository), from the French “magazin,” for “storehouse.” Bayonet, camouflage, and a lot of technical fortress terms (“ravelin,” “glacis,” and “redoubt” to name but three) also came from the French. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/3 "2004-11-14T00:50:39Z")
**Battery** , to mean a set or group of guns, is first recorded in English in 1555. It almost certainly came from the sense of “bombardment” which was from Old French and referred earlier to cannons, and even earlier catapults. And, yes, the root word in Latin and then Old French was the same as today’s _assault_=to beat or batter On preview, I see I’m late. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/4 "2004-11-14T00:58:07Z")
**Magazine** can have two military meanings. To amplify what **Rodd Hill** posted, the _magazine=place where ammo is stored_ meaning appears in English in 1596. The _magazine=chamber for bullets_ meaning appears in print in 1744. According to my _Chambers, Dictionary of Etymology_, the term could have as easily been borrowed into English from Italian(_maggazzino_), Arabic(_makhazin, plural of makhzan_, or _khazana_ meaning to store up. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/5 "2004-11-14T01:43:23Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > **Battery** , to mean a set or group of guns, is first recorded in English in 1555. It is worth pointing out that the electrical use of ‘battery’ is as a collective noun, indicating a group of cells. How this word found itself into science is another question - but one I’d like to see answered 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/6 "2004-11-14T02:33:47Z")
> [@Rodd Hill](#): > > Both are from the French, via the British usage. > > Battery comes from the French verb “battre”, “to beat,” or “to hit” And yes, it is the same root as “assault and battery.” > > Magazine (which can be a storehouse as well as a ammunition repository), from the French “magazin,” for “storehouse.” > Bayonet, camouflage, and a lot of technical fortress terms (“ravelin,” “glacis,” and “redoubt” to name but three) also came from the French. And “surrender”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/7 "2004-11-14T03:43:46Z")
> [@Middlecase](#): > > And “surrender”. Can we dispense with ethnic slurs in GQ, please? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/8 "2004-11-14T03:44:18Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > It is worth pointing out that the electrical use of ‘battery’ is as a collective noun, indicating a group of cells. How this word found itself into science is another question - but one I’d like to see answered 🙂 The first cite for battery=group of electric cells is by Benjamin Franklin, 1748. > [@](#): > > 1748 FRANKLIN Lett. Wks. 1840 V. 202 An electrical battery, consisting of eleven panes of large sash-glass, armed with thin leaden plates. courtesy of the OED. ---
**Author:** ![daffyduck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ec9cab/32.png) [@daffyduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daffyduck)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/9 "2004-11-14T03:50:53Z")
From the [Oline Etymology Dictionary](http://www.etymonline.com/) : battery 1531, “action of battering,” from [M.Fr](http://M.Fr). batterie, from [O.Fr](http://O.Fr). baterie, from batre “beat,” from L. bauttere “beat” (see batter (v.)). Meaning shifted in [M.Fr](http://M.Fr). from “bombardment” (“heavy blows” upon city walls or fortresses) to “unit of artillery” (a sense recorded in Eng. from 1555). **Extension to “electrical cell” (1748, first used by Ben Franklin) is perhaps via notion of “discharges” of electricity.** In obs. baseball jargon battery was the word for “pitcher and catcher” considered as a unit (1867). magazine 1583, “place where goods are stored, esp. military ammunition,” from [M.Fr](http://M.Fr). magasin “warehouse, depot, store,” from It. magazzino, from Ar. makhazin, pl. of makhzan “storehouse,” from khazana “to store up.” The original sense is almost obsolete; **meaning “periodical journal” dates from the publication of the first one, “Gentleman’s Magazine,” in 1731, from earlier use of the word for a printed list of military stores and information, or in a fig. sense, from the publication being a “storehouse” of information.** ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/10 "2004-11-14T03:52:57Z")
> [@Middlecase](#): > > And “surrender”. Technically, you’re correct. It does come from the Old French. But, in fact, if you post snide political comments in the GQ forum, you’ll be first warned, then warned again, then shown the door. Mild warning. **samclem** GQ moderator ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/11 "2004-11-14T04:16:05Z")
‘Gentlemen’s Magazine’ took the name to encourage readers to keep past issues as a storehouse, ‘a magazine of knowledge.’ Somehow the word made the jump. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/12 "2004-11-14T04:26:34Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > It is worth pointing out that the electrical use of ‘battery’ is as a collective noun, indicating a group of cells. How this word found itself into science is another question - but one I’d like to see answered 🙂 GM: /slight hijack/ to your second question - It certainly is not from the French. They use the term _pile_ (pronounced “peel”), probably from our early use of the term “atomic pile” to refer to the early atomic reactors. BTW, Battery is also the term for all the armament of a naval ship. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/13 "2004-11-14T08:37:00Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Technically, you’re correct. It does come from the Old French. > > But, in fact, if you post snide political comments in the GQ forum, you’ll be first warned, then warned again, then shown the door. > > Mild warning. > > **samclem** GQ moderator My apologies. It won’t happen again. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/14 "2004-11-14T10:53:38Z")
> [@Ignatz](#): > > GM: /slight hijack/ to your second question - It certainly is not from the French. They use the term _pile_ (pronounced “peel”), probably from our early use of the term “atomic pile” to refer to the early atomic reactors. **Ignatz** , I don’t believe that anyone - certainly not **GorillaMan** - is trying to claim that the English word “battery” is derived from the French term for “battery” in the electrical sense. English “battery” (in all of its meanings) comes from the French, but the transition occurred long before the electrical meaning in either language. Nobody in this thread has claimed otherwise. Are you **really** suggesting that the French word _“la pile”_ (for electrical battery) might be derived from the English term “atomic pile”? The French _“pile”_ can mean stack (and has done so for hundreds of years), and the connection to the structure of the original voltaic batteries (also called “voltaic piles” in English, even!) is clear. Do you honestly think that the French have been calling electrical batteries _“piles”_ only since the discovery of controlled nuclear fission? ---
**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/15 "2004-11-14T11:57:34Z")
_Surrender_ and _defeat_ both come from French, but so do _victory_, _triumph_ and _conquest_. The reason why many basic military words in English are derived from French is that French-speaking people conquered England in 1066. That’s worth noting for those who characterize France as cowardly and militarily weak because their generals didn’t sufficiently guard the Ardennes in 1940 (among other things). A second generation of French military words entered English later, especially during the transition to combat with firearms, perhaps influenced to an extent by the French military engineer Vauban. These would include _redoubt, defilade, batallion, platoon, corps_, practically all of the names of military ranks (colonel, lieutenant, etc.), and many others. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/16 "2004-11-14T12:27:39Z")
> [@Ignatz](#): > > GM: /slight hijack/ to your second question - It certainly is not from the French. They use the term _pile_ (pronounced “peel”), probably from our early use of the term “atomic pile” to refer to the early atomic reactors. . Nope. That would be because early batteries were made by “piling up” layers of metals. And for some reason, car’s batteries are called “batteries”, not “piles”. ---
**Author:** ![TheTyrant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thetyrant/32/19111_2.png) [@TheTyrant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheTyrant)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/17 "2004-11-14T16:08:24Z")
Reading the OP and the replies leads me to ask another question about the word “battery”… how and when did it come to mean a weapon in a state that’s “ready to fire”? (ie putting your weapon “in battery” or bringing your weapon “back to battery”?) I had never heard battery used in this way until undergoing small arms training. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/18 "2004-11-14T16:29:07Z")
> [@TheTyrant](#): > > Reading the OP and the replies leads me to ask another question about the word “battery”… how and when did it come to mean a weapon in a state that’s “ready to fire”? (ie putting your weapon “in battery” or bringing your weapon “back to battery”?) > > I had never heard battery used in this way until undergoing small arms training. The OED first cites this military use in 1813 by Wellington. It seems to have been ‘in battery’ and ‘out of battery.’ I’m still searching for the first use of “when come back, bring _battery_.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/19 "2004-11-15T13:44:17Z")
> [@TheTyrant](#): > > Reading the OP and the replies leads me to ask another question about the word “battery”… how and when did it come to mean a weapon in a state that’s “ready to fire”? (ie putting your weapon “in battery” or bringing your weapon “back to battery”?) > > I had never heard battery used in this way until undergoing small arms training. It sounds to me like saying that a cannon is “In Battery” is like stating that a unit of infantry is “Online” or “In the line.” That is, in position for combat. This is simply contextual speculation, however. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630/20 "2004-11-15T14:43:11Z")
It’s worth observing that materiel (note the penultimate E) has a specialized military use to mean armaments, ammunition, while ordnance (without an I) means armaments, weaponry. “Put this materiel and ordnance in the magazine” would have quite different meanings to an ordnance sergeant and to a law-review staffer. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusing-military-words/274630.md?page=2)