Subject: | |
From: | |
Reply To: | |
Date: | Sat, 4 Nov 1995 08:51:35 GMT |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
I may have this wrong, but since in the 17th century 'gun' retains
its primary meaning (=cannon), and has aquired a secondary meaning
(=moveable firearm except a pistol), I always have thought that 'fix'
means 'fixed down, permanent', and 'unfixed' being portable. I just
checked in the OED - and it doesn't have 'unfixed' as being portable
(it does have the other meanings), so I probably have got this wrong.
In message <[log in to unmask]> HIS
[log in to unmask] writes:
> As long as we are on the subject of guns...
> Does anyone know, exactly, what a 'fixed' vs 'unfixed' gun means in the
> 17th century? It does not mean 'broken' (many readers of probate data
> make this assumption). All the Oxford English Dictionary indicates for
> this usage is "Prepared, put in order."
>
> Mary Ellin D'Agostino
> [log in to unmask]
>
--
Pat Reynolds
Keeper of Social History, Buckinghamshire County Museum / Freelance Curator
16 Gibsons Green
Heelands
MILTON KEYNES
England MK13 7NH
[log in to unmask]
|
|
|