Howitzer groups called batteries. The English word ""howitzer"" comes from the Czech word ""houfnice"", from "houf", "crowd", and "houf" is in turn a borrowing from the Middle High German word "Hūfe" or "Houfe" (modern German "Haufen"), meaning "heap". "Haufen", sometimes in the compound "Gewalthaufen", also designated a pike square formation in German. In the Hussite Wars of the 1420s and 1430s, the Czechs used short barreled ""houfnice"" cannons to fire at short distances into crowds of infantry, or into charging heavy cavalry, to make horses shy away. The word was rendered into German as "aufeniz" in the earliest attested use in
Adel (name) of the names Adelais, Aderic, Adolf, Albert, and Alice, and their variants in other languages. The name derives from Old Dutch "ōþil", Old German "adal", Old Norse "aðal", Old French "œ̄ðel", and Old English "æðel" by evolution of proto-Germanic "aþalą" (meaning "noble" and "kin") and "ōþilą" (meaning "inheritance" and "rule of the land"). Today, "adel" is used throughout much of north-western Europe as the word for nobility. Aristocratic prestige is its very essense. Other origins include: Adel was found over 4,000 times as a family name and over 15,000 times as a given name in 55 different countries. It is