Davebear, my point was that these days the word “fire” has completely lost its original context and become a purely generic term for using a ranged weapon. We talk about “firing” torpedoes, lasers, phasers, nerf guns, squirt guns, rail guns, etc. – even though there’s no fire involved.
So when we say “fire!” we don’t literally mean fire, any more than when we say “Goodbye” we literally mean “God be with you.”
('Course, I’m drifting off the original question, which I think sailor and BMalion answered.)
Sorry for the very slow reply, I lost the book for a while. Now, I do not make any absurd claims of the veracity of this book (the author himself says he probably doesn’t understand everything he’s tried to explain), but I think it’s pretty good for a general overview. I also realize the title makes it sound like a kids’ book, but the illustrations are to help the reader visualize the more difficult-to-describe weapons.
-“Weapons, A Pictorial History”, Edwin Tunis, 1999. Pg. 60
Writers are torn between using words that make more sense to the audience in terms they can understand and trying to find the best English word to describe a command or saying that might not translate well. It might mean nothing if an old usage is dropped in favor of a modern one. If might mean alot if there is no better usage than the original.
“Loose” is a good example.
If you go to the OED and actually read their cites for the various terms offered here, you come up with only two choices, both of which come in about the right time frame.
The term “loose” used as a verb involving arrows and bows appears about 1400.
The term “shoot” used as a verb involving arrows and bows appears about 1305.
I’d say the scarcity of cites from the time would allow either to have been potentially used.
What Aragorn actually says in the movie is “Tangado a chadad”, which actually translates litterally to " establish(make ready) to hurl (the arrows)". “Prepare to fire” is obviously a much more modern terminology, probably used by the on-screen dialog writer without even thinking of anything brought up in this thread.
I hate to hijack an interesting discussion, but I can’t help thinking of an old Boy Scout skit we used to do. Three prisoners, about to be executed by firing squad, are trying to develop an escape plan. The first one says to the others, “Watch what I do!” and heads out to meet his fate. The squad commander begins, “Ready…aim…” and at the fateful moment, the prisoner shouts “Air raid!” and points at the sky. The soldiers turn to look, and the prisoner dashes off. The second prisoner, catching on, pulls off the same trick; as the soldiers prepare to shoot, he yells “Tornado!” and dashes off into the convenient nearby corner when the firing squad turns around. Unfortunately (as I’m sure you’ve guessed by now), the third prisoner is not quite as smart as his buddies. As the commander says, “Ready…aim…” he points in the distance and yells…“Fire!”
Actually, there were no elven archers at Helm’s Deep, and Aragorn most assuredly never issued any orders to them. In fact, no record is made of anyone issuing orders to any bowmen, though a fair bit of archery takes place. The archers are described as ‘loosing’ and ‘shooting’ arrows. Presumably the immediate commanders of the companies of Rohirrim archers would have issued the order in their own language, possibly after a nod from Eomer, who was the ranking personage on the wall during the initial assault.
Oh, you were talking about the movie?
At the movies, I always feel sorry for Will. Everyone’s always firing at Will. Poor guy.
Until the advent of gunpowder, and cannon came into being, all projectiles were proplelled by mechanism of ballista, catapult, trebuchet, sling, and bow, or they were thrown by hand. In all of those non-gunpowder days, the command for a group of archers, or slingers, or any of the others was to “LET FLY!” Joan of Arc said it, some, and so did the british archers who were after her.
While I realize that it probably wouldn’t have been used in previous times for this, it seems to me that the word, “Now!” would work well for modern audiences in that it doesn’t have the connotations that the word, “Fire!” does.
Assuming you are serious, can you give a historical(contemporary) cite for the “let fly” instructions, whether they were for Joan of Arc or anyone else? I’d dearly love to see such a cite.
