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
Vera (given name) verus "true" (source also of Italian vero), from PIE root *were-o- "true, trustworthy." Meaning "greatly, extremely" is first recorded mid-15c. Used as a pure intensive since Middle English. In Albanian the meaning of the word "vera" is summer. The Albanian male version of the name Vera is Veriu which has the meaning "north" alb. (veri, veriu). Vera (given name) Vera is a female first name of Russian origin, from "verus" meaning verity and coincides with the Russian meaning of faith. Gender: Feminine Usage: English, German, Scandinavian, Slovak, Czech, Italian, Greek, Dutch, Slovene, Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Albanian,