# Does one "fire" an arrow? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 3, 2002, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-fire-an-arrow/135112 "2002-11-03T13:53:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-fire-an-arrow/135112/1 "2002-11-03T13:53:46Z")
Last night I caught the second half of _Gladiator_ on TV. In one scene, two soldiers were executed by a team of archers. The officer gave the order, “Fire”. Isn’t this an anachronism? Upon reflection I thought that there were would be no association of the word “fire” with arrows, and thought it probably first was used with respect to the use of early guns, that did involve lighting something. I checked my dictionary, and the sense of this word relating to weapons is only for guns. What might a Roman officer actually have said when giving the order to shoot arrows? (I didn’t put this in Cafe Society because it’s a question about language, not really discussion of the film.) ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-fire-an-arrow/135112/2 "2002-11-03T14:42:53Z")
Release? I sorta doubt they would have wasted arrows on an execution anyway. You just don’t pull them out of the body and re-use them. Often, the head would break off and be stuck in bone. Beats me. I shoot arrows, and fire guns. ---
**Author:** ![cdhostage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@cdhostage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdhostage)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-fire-an-arrow/135112/3 "2002-11-03T14:54:08Z")
since it’s all fudging of a “translation” from fake Latin, it doesn’t matter in the slightest. shoot I’d say. Also release or let fly or expurgate (not sure about that last one). BTW, the Romans executed by hanging, crucifixion, or beheading with a sword. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-fire-an-arrow/135112/4 "2002-11-03T15:13:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cdhostage \* > \*\*BTW, The Romans executed by hanging, crucifixion, or beheading with a sword. \*\* Also, in the army, by beating to death, for certain crimes (I think desertion, cowardice and homosexual activity, but I’m not entirely sure), being thrown from the Tarpeian Rock, for things like treason and perjury, and apparently, being burned at the stake. (From Cicero’s recording of the Twelve Tablets, the origin of Roman law, here: ) [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/12tables.html](http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/12tables.html) ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-fire-an-arrow/135112/5 "2002-11-03T15:44:22Z")
The Bible (_Jeremiah Ch. 50_) contains a reference _loose your arrows_. If that’s any help. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-fire-an-arrow/135112/6 "2002-11-03T15:48:06Z")
‘Deliver’ is sometimes used, although it’s somewhat archaic. Which means it might have been a good choice for the _Gladiator_ scriptwriters … ---
**Author:** ![Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milton_De_La_Warre)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2002, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-fire-an-arrow/135112/7 "2002-11-04T13:16:00Z")
IIRC, Nostradamus’ reference is right in that it reflects contemporary usage (in English). I believe this will also be found elsewhere in the literature of bow-and-arrow times. One does let loose of the bowstring to “fire” an arrow, so “loose” would be appropriate as far as I can judge. As to bow-and-arrow “firing squads”, I believe St. Sebastian was so executed if we’re to believe the old art and stories. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2002, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-fire-an-arrow/135112/8 "2002-11-04T14:41:15Z")
The OED gives (in the relevant paragraph) Fire, vb… 15b To propel or discharge a missile, as from a gun. It’s examples include, ‘If you want something to eat, fire a stone through a window.’, Times, 1885. Thus ‘firing an arrow’ seems perfectly kosher. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2002, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-fire-an-arrow/135112/9 "2002-11-04T14:46:09Z")
Not to archers it doesn’t (English archers, at least). You _shoot_ arrows, you don’t _fire_ them. I’ve known some archers get very agitated on this point. ---
**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 4, 2002, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-fire-an-arrow/135112/10 "2002-11-04T14:54:11Z")
Don’t forget the Romans also used burying alive (for a Vestal who had broken her vows), and putting a traitor in a sack along with a dog, a rooster and a viper, then casting the lot into the Tiber. The 1885 Times cite seems very late to support the use of “fire;” firearms had been in use since circa 1500. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2002, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-fire-an-arrow/135112/11 "2002-11-04T15:36:59Z")
It’s better to say your arrow has been “let go” than “fired”. That way, at least you don’t screw up its resume. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2002, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-fire-an-arrow/135112/12 "2002-11-04T22:15:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Don’t forget the Romans also used burying alive (for a Vestal who had broken her vows) This is not, incidentally, what most folks nowadays think of as “burried alive”. Her head would be left above ground, so she could still breath. She would also have been provided with food and water, and so would not have died of starvation or dehydration. What she would not be able to do is eliminate waste, the consequences of this being best left unimagined. Meanwhile, the man with whom she broke her vows would be stoned. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2002, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-fire-an-arrow/135112/13 "2002-11-04T23:06:15Z")
Shoot! ---
**Author:** ![pud\_lumpkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6de8d8/32.png) [@pud\_lumpkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pud_lumpkins)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2002, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-fire-an-arrow/135112/14 "2002-11-04T23:13:30Z")
maybe they got the term from using flaming arrows, since they used firey arrows in boat warfare and invading a polis. So it could be like, Fire arrow! or they could’ve gotten it from the Chinese and their rocket arrows… or NOT! oh yes, Gladiator kicks ass. i’m gonna get that movie ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2002, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-one-fire-an-arrow/135112/15 "2002-11-05T17:44:42Z")
“Last night I caught the second half of Gladiator on TV. In one scene, two soldiers were executed by a team of archers. The officer gave the order, “Fire”. Isn’t this an anachronism?” I noticed that too, and was a bit surprised because in the battle at the start of Gladiator, the order (for both the archers and the catapults with flaming pots) was clearly given as “loose!” Someone slipped up on continuity.