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
Name of the Czech Republic Name of the Czech Republic The Czech Republic's official formal and short names at the United Nations are and in Czech, and the Czech Republic and Czechia in English. All these names derive from the name of the Czechs, the West Slavic ethnic group native to the Czech lands. "Czechia" (), the official English short name specified by the Czech government, is used by many international organisations and attested as early as 1841. However, most English speakers use "[the] Czech Republic" in all contexts. Other languages generally have greater official use of a short form analogous to "Česko" or "Czechia"