:beerchug:
With thanks to Advisory Panel member Roger Payne, a new article has been added to the Technical Articles for Milsurp Collectors and Re-loaders (click here)
"Great War British & Empire Sniping Equipment" by Roger Payne (click here)
Regards,
Doug
Cheers Doug. I hope people manage to get to the end of it without losing the will to live.............!!
What a great article! While not having read everything fully, I am already highly pleased with what I had yet read. The only poor thing is the pictures being black/white colour. While Roger had posted them in colour on the board here too, I wish in this article they would also had been this way!
PS: In German "Sniper" can be translated as "Scharfschütze", whereas the "Shooter" is only "Schütze" - therefore the "Scharfschütze" ("Sniper") is only a particular type of "Schütze" ("Shooter"). Based on this I once had translated the following paragraph on the origin of the word "sniper" from German to English:
Sources:Quote:
A first approach to the essence of the sniper gives the origin of the word ‘shooter’. The brothers Grimm derived the word from the Old High German ‘scuzzo’ and sources on related words in other Germanic languages like ‘skytt’ in Swedish, ‘skytte’ in Danish and ‘skut’ in Anglo-Saxon*. It refers to the sender of projectiles, but is not connected to the form of the bullet, nor the used firearm.
In France the shooter is called ‘tireur’, derived from the verb ‘tirer’ (pull, stretch, extend), and describes the operation of drawing a bow or drawing a crossbow, as well as pulling the trigger of a rifle**.
In Slavic languages the shooter is called ‘strelec’ and ‘strjeljac’, derived from the verb ‘streljati’ and ‘streljaf’. A word connected to the sender of a projectile, but also referring to the fired projectile, the arrow (‘strela’)***.
In Latin texts shooters are referred as 'sagittarii' or 'ballistarii', which use their bow (‘arcus’) or their crossbow (‘arcuballista’ or ‘ballista’) to shoot their arrows (‘sagitta’)****.
Shooters are therefore persons, who shoot. This view is being confirmed by word formations like ‘bowman’, ‘arbalest’ or ‘rifleman’. The meaning of shooting was therefore still fully alive, when only those called themselves ‘shooters’, which were handling with distance weapons. Especially in French medieval texts they’re using exclusively the words ‘archers’, ‘arbalétriers’, ‘arquebusiers’, respectively Old French ‘archers’, ‘arbalétriers’ and ‘haquebutiers’, the latter also called ‘couleuvres’*****.
To the designation of a notably good shooter the German language knows word formed with ‘scharf’ (sharp), which gets its special meaning with ‘Scharfblick’ (sharp eye), ‘scharfes Auge’ (keen eyed) and ‘scharfer Munition’ (live ammunition). In French the ‘tireur d’elite’, in Slavic language the ‘ostrostrelec’ and ‘snajperista’.
However, the most revealing terms are those developed in the English language. The ‘marksman’ is a designation for someone who strikes the target (‘mark’) with precision. The word ‘sharpshooter’ is latest known by the 17th century. Additionally known is the word ‘sniper’, a nowadays known term among military experts worldwide, and probably currently the most used word.
* Grimm, Jakob, Wilhelm Grimm: Deutsches Wörterbuch. Vol. 9. Leipzig 1899, Sp. 2125-2127
** Grappin, Pierre: Dictiormaire Moderne Francais-Allemand. Paris 1963, p. 787
*** Karadzic, Vuk Stefanovic: Srpski Rjecnik. Istumacen njemackijem i lattnskijem rijecima. 3. izd., ispravljeno i umnozeno. Beograd 1898, p. 742; Dictionary Russian-German. Publisher v. Edmund Daum and Werner Schenk. 7th unmodified run. Leipzig 1976, p. 822; Tomsic", France: Slovensko-Nemski Slovar. Ljubljana 1983, p. 612; Trautmann, Reinhold: Baltic-Slavic Dictionary. Göttingen 1923, p. 28
**** Reintges, Theo: Ursprung und Wesen der spätmittelalterlichen Schützengilden. Bonn 1963, p. 38
***** Reintges, Theo: Ursprung und Wesen der spätmittelalterlichen Schützengilden, p. 38
Promo, that's absolutely correct.
Scharfschütze and Schütze are, as you write, respectively sniper and shooter or rifleman.
When speaking about military matters, it means rifleman (the normal infantry soldier). Schützen are, outside the military world, the normal shooters who go to the range or members of paramilitary organisations.
When I talk to German or Austrian friends about my shooting and they ask me if I'm a hunter, I answer that I'm not, but that I'm a Schütze, meaning that I'm a person who shoots at targets for a sport.
My second mother tongue, sorry for being so boring...
For those interested in sniping there is a book currently on ebay for the princely sum of £2.64 including postage in the UK
It is
Sniper: One on One - The World of Combat Sniping By Adrian D. Gilbert
This is a hardback and covers sniping from the American Civil War up to 1990 (the book was first published in 1994) it is a new book at an unbelievable low price.
I have purchased 5 copies for myself, friends and club competition awards.
Thanks Roger for the excellent article and thanks Doug for making it available.
I have fully read the article on Friday. It was very interesting and had contained a lot of information which was new to me. A pity the pictures only were black/white, and would had loved a few more especially of scopes (like to show the difference between the Aldis Patterns), but of course this would just had been the icing on the cake! Oh, and the font was painful to read, but this of course is just a small detail!
From my library book from #5 is pic 1 and another couple on the matter one is a no hold barred German sniper on the Eastern front the Russians did not muck around with any captured snipers pretty gripping tale, I have another 18 titles on snipers through conflicts from WWI - present.
Lastly "The Last Wolf" By Cox a Marine Scout Sniper its a good read but I suggest if your interested in it you get a kindle copy as your not going to like the price of them now there is one copy on Amazon, I brought mine years ago for $100/Au.
Hi all,
With regard Promo’s comments regard the black an white images in Roger’s excellent article I will hopefully be able to help with this. I am currently putting the finishing touches to a book I have been working on for the last eighteen months. The title is The British Sniper. A Century of Evolution and studies the weapons, spotting scopes, clothing and ancillaries of the British sniper since 1915 to the present. All the principle rifles issued to the field army and their optics are photographed in detail. Roger has been a great help and has indeed allowed me to include several examples from his own collection.
I’m hoping to launch the book in the autumn.
So the most precise translation would be "sharpshooter"?
Quote:
Another term; "sharp shooter", was in use in British newspapers as early as 1801. In the Edinburgh Advertiser, 23 June 1801, can be found the following quote in a piece about the North British Militia; "This Regiment has several Field Pieces, and two companies of Sharp Shooters, which are very necessary in the modern "Stile of War". The term appears even earlier, around 1781, in Continental Europe, translated from the German Scharfschütze
I'd be interested in a copy Chosen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Surpmil
Yes. Scharfschütze means exactly that. Sharp = scharf in practically every use you can make of that term in the German and English languages. Sharp edge, sharp mind, you can translate that in German as scharfe Klinge and scharfes Gehirn (or, better, Verstand). Germans use "scharf" also for spicy though. Shooter and Schütze are also practically synonyms.
Steve,
You can put me down for a couple of copies.........& I'm sure I'll be able to move on more for you. It has all the makings of the new 'The British Sniper' & I'm really looking forward to the finished tome!