Arsenal

Lore & Background

The term in English entered the language in the 16th century as a loanword from Italian, itself deriving from the term 'arzanà', which in turn is thought to be a corruption of 'dār aṣ-ṣināʿa', Arabic meaning 'manufacturing shop'. A sub-armory is a place of temporary storage or carrying of weapons and ammunition, such as any temporary post or patrol vehicle that is only operational in certain times of the day.

Reader's Guide

A lower-class arsenal may contain a laboratory, gun and carriage factories, and small-arms ammunition, small arms, harness, saddlery, tent and powder factories, plus great storehouses. In a second-class arsenal, factories would be replaced by workshops. The situation of an arsenal should be governed by strategic considerations. In the early 21st century, the term 'floating armoury' described a ship storing weapons to be supplied to merchant vessels in international waters subject to piracy. Arsenal usually describes 100 or more weapons or firearms.

Did You Know?

• The branches in a great arsenal are usually subdivided into storekeeping, construction and administration.
• Frederick Taylor introduced command and control techniques to arsenals, including the U.S.'s Watertown Arsenal and Frankford Arsenal.