Named after a fly, via a hawk, via a crossbow bolt — the musket followed a chain of metaphors from insect to the weapon that changed warfare.
A muzzle-loading firearm used from the 16th to 19th centuries, the standard infantry weapon before the development of rifles.
From French mousquet, from Italian moschetto meaning a type of crossbow bolt (originally a young male sparrowhawk), diminutive of mosca meaning fly, from Latin musca meaning fly Key roots: musca (Latin: "fly (insect)").
The musket is named after a fly — via a hawk. Italian moschetto originally meant "little fly-catcher" (a young sparrowhawk), then was applied to a crossbow bolt (because it flew like a hawk), then to the firearm that replaced the crossbow. A chain of metaphors from insect to bird to bolt to gun