Talk:arm

Are we sure the claimed two etymologies are distinct? -dmh 21:01, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I didn't look it up, but it seems to me that arm as in part of the body has Germanic roots (It's the same in Dutch and German), whereas the military sense has Latin roots (cf. arme in French, arma in say Spanish). It's only in English that they happen to meet since English is sort of a conglomerate of Latin and Germanic ancestors. (That's a big part of the reason why pronunciation and spelling are so far apart and in a way it's like having two languages) All this makes it an interesting language, but certainly not a candidate as a secondary language for the world. (Yeah, I'm an Esperanto freak... :-) Polyglot 23:40, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I just looked it up. Arm as in limb comes to us from Indo-European -ar through Middle English earm, presumably by way of Anglo-Saxon. Arm as in weapon comes from Latin arma as you say, but again this comes from Indo-European -ar. Stranger things have happened. Looking at forte has convinced me that, even when the ultimate roots are the same, the etymology (how we got here from the root) may vary, and this is another case of that. I would contrast that with bank, where the various senses all seem to originate from place to sit, with the financial sense a simple metonymy of the moneychanger's bench for the moneychanger. -dmh 15:55, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Fleet Air Arm

Which of the different arms is meant by w:Fleet Air Arm? Wschroedter 14:32, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

That sense is missing. It means something like branch. —Stephen 17:38, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

Webster's entry

3. arms plural: a : active hostilities : WARFARE a call to arms
b : military service

I can't come up with an example for 3b. Secondly, in Webter's, "call to arms" has an entry of its own --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:12, 23 August 2019 (UTC)

We already have call to arms. Equinox ◑ 17:14, 23 August 2019 (UTC)

@Equinox: I am referring to the contradiction of adding an entry of its own since, according to the Webster's entry, it's meaning is derivable from 3a., for otherwise call to arms shouldn't be given as an example because of its idiomaticity, should it? --Backinstadiums (talk) 18:09, 23 August 2019 (UTC)

It's a famous set phrase and also has figurative meaning. Equinox ◑ 18:15, 23 August 2019 (UTC)

inspection arms

military drill position: a position in which a rifle is held diagonally in front of the body with the muzzle pointing upward to the left and the rifle chamber open for inspection 
Microsoft® Encarta® 2009

--Backinstadiums (talk) 13:01, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

of all arms

Chambers 1908 has of all arms, defined as "of every kind of troops". e.g. presumably:

• 1817, C. H. Gifford, History of the Wars Occasioned by the French Revolution

  In the eleventh class - the officers of all ranks and of all arms, the military administrators and employés, who formed part of one of the armies formed by Bonaparte, and who followed its movements until the return of the king to Paris.

Equinox ◑ 11:42, 16 May 2020 (UTC)