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
History of Sheffield of the 7th century. An enduring Celtic presence within this area is evidenced by the settlements called Wales and Waleswood close to Sheffield—the word "Wales" derives from the Germanic word "Walha", and was originally used by the Anglo-Saxons to refer to the native Britons. The name "Sheffield" is Old English in origin. It derives from the River Sheaf, whose name is a corruption of "shed" or "sheth", meaning to divide or separate. "Field" is a generic suffix deriving from the Old English "feld", meaning a forest clearing. It is likely then that the origin of the present-day city of Sheffield