"sling arms" (not in OED2) -- why not before 1824?

[Jonathan Lighter]

Wikipedia places the origin of grenadiers in the English army in 1677-1678,
only ten years before the OED cite.

"Sling arms!" may be almost vanishingly rare before the 19th century
because early use was restricted to grenadiers. Fiction and non-fiction of
the period rarely - if ever - contained the sort of granular detail that we
now associate with realism (in this case, one precise order - among a
series - that might be heard either at drill or in battle).

Presumably only grenadiers and their officers were familiar the phrase, or
had any reason to employ it.

JL


On Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 12:15 PM, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "sling arms" (not in OED2) -- why not before 1824?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 4/19/14, 12:01 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> > Date:    Fri, 18 Apr 2014 14:07:37 -0400
> > From:    Jonathan Lighter<wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject: Re: "sling arms" (not in OED2) -- why not before 1824?
> >
> > Recall, however, that OED does have "Granadeers have a care. Sling your
> > musketts." from 1688. It wasn't published till 1905, which may explain
> its
> > absence from EEBO.
> Good find. Now I have to go  and look and see what the source is. . .
> >
> > N&Q (Ser. 2) IX (Feb. 4, 1860) 77 has "1. Handle your Slings. 2. Sling
> your
> > Firelocks." as drill commands for grenadiers in 1702. Musketeers are
> > ordered instead to "Shoulder [firelocks]."
> Yes. That's the more typical order: I've heard that during 1860s bayonet
> drill.
> >
> > Grenadiers carried sling muskets because they needed both hands to
> prepare
> > their grenades.
> That makes sense.
> >
> > But I think the upshot of all this is that Bellona's "Arms" in the poem
> are
> > unspecified "weapons," not her flesh-and-blood arms, and she's slung
> them,
> > at her side or over her shoulder,  because the battle is over.
> >
> I'll concur with my esteemed colleague. Still favoring a firelock over a
> sword. :-)
>
> ---Amy West
>
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