manuballista

Latin

Etymology

From manus (“hand”) + ballista (“ballista”).

Noun

manuballista f (genitive manuballistae); first declension

A torsion-powered hand weapon, or possibly a crossbow
The only contemporary account of crossbows is by Vegetius, who writes:

Erant tragularii, qui ad manuballistas vel arcuballistas dirigebant sagittas.

Some scholars take this to mean these were different weapons, manuballistae being torsion-powered and arcuballistae being crossbows. In modern Spanish and Italian a crossbow is called ballesta and balestra respectively, while in French and German it's called arbalète and Armbrust.
(New Latin) gun, firearm

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	manuballista	manuballistae
Genitive	manuballistae	manuballistārum
Dative	manuballistae	manuballistīs
Accusative	manuballistam	manuballistās
Ablative	manuballistā	manuballistīs
Vocative	manuballista	manuballistae

Synonyms

(gun, firearm): sclopetum, arma ignifera

References

“manuballista”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
manuballista in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

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