A French-English Military Dictionary - Sturmpanzer.com

PREFACE.
In spite of the events of 1870-71, perhaps because of them, the French language
still holds its own as one whose military literature is of deep interest to the stu-
dent of military progress. Apart from professional works of purely French origin,
the stake of the French people in their army is so great that, sooner or later, every
technical advance, every military achievement, whether afloat or ashore,
is laid
under contribution, if not to furnish its share of possible improvement to the French
service, at least to satisfy the French people of the excellence of that service. And
it follows that with French alone an officer can keep abreast of his profession almost
as well as though he had at his command all the other foreign languages whose mili-
tary literatures are important in a professional point of view.
In some respects the preparation of a French-English military technical diction-
ary is a task of great difficulty.
This arises partly from the inability of the English lan-
guage in all cases to supply the exact technical equivalent of a given French term,
but more particularly from the extremely detailed nature of technical French nomen-
clature. Where we in English are frequently satisfied to apply
the class name to
each of the objects or things of one and the same class, the French will almost inva-
riably modify this class name by some adjunct limiting or denning its application.
Lexicographically, the result is to force the substitution of a description for a name.
It is pertinent to remark, however, that this substitution is unavoidable in those
cases, relatively numerous, in which the thing to be denned is peculiar to the French.
It is hoped that these, as well as other difficulties of which it is unnecessary to speak
'here, may be borne in mind by those who may use this book; for while all care
has been taken to make it as accurate as possible, still it would be vain to hope that
all errors, whether of omission or of commission, have been excluded. The author
takes this occasion to say that he will be greatly obliged to officers and others if they
will bring to his attention any mistakes that may fall under their notice.
'The author desires gratefully to thank the various friends that have helped
him. Chief among these stands Col. Peter S. Michie, of the Military Academy.
Maj. William A. Simpson, of the Adjutant-General's Department; Dr. Charles
E. Munroe, of the Corcoran Scientific School; Capt. John R. Williams and Lieut.
I. N. Lewis, of the Artillery; Capt. J. E. Kuhn, of the Engineers; Lieut. E. B.
Cassatt, of the Cavalry, and Mr. Laurence V. Bene"t, of the Hotchkiss Ordnance
Company, Limited, have laid him under obligations that are cheerfully acknowl-
edged. Mr. Wilfred Stevens, of the Adjutant-General's Office, has given substan-
tial aid in preparing the manuscript for the press and in reading the proof.
C. DE W. W.
WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
May, 1899.
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