Almost certainly from the Old Norse female name 'Gunnhildr' (war-battle) — a woman's name that became the word for firearms.
A weapon incorporating a metal tube from which projectiles are propelled by explosive force.
Almost certainly from the Scandinavian female name 'Gunnhildr' (war + battle), which was used as a pet name for large siege weapons in medieval England. A 1330 Windsor Castle inventory records a large ballista named 'Lady Gunilda.' The practice of naming individual weapons was common in medieval warfare, and the personal name became generic