Editing Howitzer (section)

== Etymology ==
{{Cannon}}
The English word ''howitzer'' comes from the Czech word {{lang|cs|houfnice}},<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=howitzer&searchmode=none |title= Online Etymology Dictionary |work= etymonline.com |access-date= 2010-05-28 |archive-date= 2013-12-02 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131202233841/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=howitzer&searchmode=none |url-status= live }}</ref><ref>''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', 4th edition reprinted, 1956: "Howitzer".</ref><ref>{{cite book |language=de |last=Paul |first=Hermann |year=1960 |title=Deutsches Wörterbuch |chapter=Haubitze}}</ref> from {{lang|cs|houf}}, 'crowd',<ref>[[Stephen Turnbull (historian)|Stephen Turnbull]]: ''The Hussite Wars, 1419–36''. p.&nbsp;46</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=UGfHSCQnYewC&pg=PA16 |title= German Medieval Armies 1300–1500 |page= 16 |isbn= 9780850456141 |date= 1985-11-28 |publisher= Bloomsbury USA }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>"houfnice" in [[Václav Machek (linguist)|Václav Machek]], ''Etymologický slovník jazyka českého'', second edition, Academia, 1968.</ref> and {{lang|cs|houf}} is in turn a borrowing from the Middle High German word {{lang|gmh|Hūfe}} or {{lang|gmh|Houfe}} (modern German {{lang|de|Haufen}}), meaning 'crowd, throng',<ref>{{cite web |title=Wörterbuchnetz |work=Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm |language=de |url=https://woerterbuchnetz.de/?sigle=DWB&lemma=haufe |access-date=2022-05-09 |archive-date=2022-05-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220509125454/https://woerterbuchnetz.de/?sigle=DWB&lemma=haufe |url-status=live }}</ref> plus the Czech nominal suffix {{lang|cs|-nice}}. {{lang|de|Haufen}}, sometimes in the compound {{lang|de|Gewalthaufen}}, also designated a [[pike square]] formation in German.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Christ |first1=Georg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LIuWEAAAQBAJ&dq=Gewalthaufen+pike+square&pg=PT449 |title=Military Diasporas: Building of Empire in the Middle East and Europe (550 BCE-1500 CE) |last2=Sänger |first2=Patrick |last3=Carr |first3=Mike |date=2022-11-30 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-77407-8 |language=en}}</ref><!--Did it designate it at the time? Does any source mention this fact in this connection, or is it OR?-->

In the [[Hussite Wars]] of the 1420s and 1430s, the Hussites used short-barreled {{lang|cs|houfnice}} cannons<ref name=turnbull>{{cite book |author=[[Stephen Turnbull (historian)|Stephen Turnbull]] |title=The Hussite Wars, 1419–36 |date=25 May 2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ntLB8W-cVQC&dq=houfnice&pg=PA37 |page=37 |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=9781841766652 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> to fire at short distances into crowds of [[infantry]], or into charging [[heavy cavalry]], to make horses shy away.<ref>''The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'', (Oxford: The [[Oxford University Press|Clarendon Press]], 1973), I, p. 992</ref> The word was rendered into German as {{lang|de|aufeniz}} in the earliest attested use in a document dating from 1440; later German renderings include {{lang|de|haussnitz}} and, eventually {{lang|de|haubitze}}, from which derive the Scandinavian {{lang|sv|haubits}}, Polish and Croatian {{lang|pl|haubica}}, Estonian {{lang|et|haubits}}, Finnish {{lang|fi|haupitsi}}, Russian {{lang|bg-Latn|gaubitsa}} ({{lang|ru|гаубица}}), Serbian {{lang|sr-Latn|haubica}} ({{lang|uk|xаубицa}}), Ukrainian ({{lang|uk|гаубиця}}), Italian {{lang|it|obice}}, Spanish {{lang|es|obús}}, Portuguese {{lang|pt|obus}}, French {{lang|fr|obusier}}, Romanian {{lang|ro|obuzier}} and the Dutch word {{lang|nl|houwitser}}, which led to the English word ''howitzer''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Howitzer |work=[[Merriam-Webster|Merriam-Webster Online]] |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/howitzer |access-date=8 October 2021 |archive-date=8 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008184656/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/howitzer |url-status=live }}</ref>

Since [[World War I]], the word ''howitzer'' has been changing to describe artillery pieces that previously would have belonged to the category of [[gun-howitzer]]s – relatively long barrels and high muzzle velocities combined with multiple propelling charges and high maximum elevations. This is particularly true in the [[United States Armed Forces|armed forces of the United States]], where gun-howitzers have been officially described as howitzers since [[World War II]]. Because of this practice, the word howitzer is used in some armies as a generic term for any kind of artillery piece that is designed to attack targets using [[indirect fire]]. Thus, artillery pieces that bear little resemblance to howitzers of earlier eras are now described as howitzers, although the British call them guns.

The British had a further method of nomenclature. In the 18th century, they adopted projectile weight for guns replacing an older naming system (such as ''culverin'', ''saker'', etc.)<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ug-6DgAAQBAJ&q=Current+U.S.+military+doctrine+defines+howitzers+as+any+cannon+artillery+capable+of+high-angle+%2845%C2%B0+to+90%C2%B0+elevation%29+and+low-angle+%2845%C2%B0+to+0%C2%B0+elevation%29+fire%3B+guns+are+defined+as+being+only+capable+of+low-angle+fire%2C+and+mortars+only+capable+of+high-angle+fire&pg=PT112 |title=The Modern Weaponry of the World's Armed Forces |last=Chandar |first=Y. Udaya |date=2017-04-24 |publisher=Notion Press |isbn=9781946983794}}</ref> that had developed in the late 15th century. Mortars had been categorized by calibre in inches in the 17th century, and this was duplicated with howitzers.<ref>''Artillery: Its Origin, Heyday and Decline'', Brigadier OFG Hogg, London, C Hurst and Company,1970</ref>

U.S. military doctrine defines howitzers as any cannon artillery capable of both high-angle fire (45° to 90° elevation) and low-angle fire (0° to 45° elevation); guns are defined as being only capable of low-angle fire (0° to 45° elevation); and mortars are defined as being only capable of high-angle fire (45° to 90° elevation).<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Modern Weaponry of the World's Armed Forces|last=Chandar|first=Col y Udaya|publisher=Notion Press, Inc.|year=2017|isbn=9781946983787}}</ref>