The term pistol was introduced in the 1560s from Middle French pistole, believed to have roots in the Czech word pištala, referring to a specific type of hand-cannon used in the 1400s. Pištala could also mean “tube” or “pipe”, but its literal translation is “whistle” due to their similar shape (as a speaker of Serbo-Croatian, I notice that the verb for “whistling”, pištanje, is also related). This originates from Proto-Slavic piskati, meaning “squeak” or “whistle”, and is ultimately onomatopoeic of the whistling sound. Since its widespread adoption in the late eighteenth century, the usage of the term pistol has remained consistent. The verb pistol-whip was first documented in 1942 and pistol-butt dates back to 1914.
