Those machines, in which the force of men pulling cords took the place of
the counterpoise, could not discharge such weighty shot, but they could be
worked more rapidly, and no doubt could be made of lighter scantling. Mr.
Hewitt points out a curious resemblance between this kind of Trebuchet and
the apparatus used on the Thames to raise the cargo from the hold of a
collier.
The Emperor Napoleon deduces from certain passages in mediaeval writers
that the Mangonel was similar to the Trebuchet, but of lighter structure
and power. But often certainly the term Mangonel seems to be used
generically for all machines of this class. Marino Sanudo uses no word but
Machina, which he appears to employ as the Latin equivalent of
Mangonel, whilst the machine which he describes is a Trebuchet with
moveable counterpoise. The history of the word appears to be the
following. The Greek word [Greek: magganon], "a piece of witchcraft," came
to signify a juggler's trick, an unexpected contrivance (in modern slang
"a jim"), and so specially a military engine. It seems to have reached
this specific meaning by the time of Hero the Younger, who is believed to
have written in the first half of the 7th century. From the form [Greek:
magganikon] the Orientals got Manganik and Manjanik,[6] whilst the
Franks adopted Mangona and Mangonella. Hence the verbs manganare and
amanganare, to batter and crush with such engines, and eventually our
verb "to mangle." Again, when the use of gunpowder rendered these warlike
engines obsolete, perhaps their ponderous counterweights were utilised in
the peaceful arts of the laundry, and hence gave us our substantive "the
Mangle" (It.
