Hand grenade

A hand grenade is any small bomb that can be thrown by hand. A variety of hand grenades exist, the most common being explosive grenades designed to detonate after impact or after a set amount of time.

Grenadiers were originally soldiers who specialized in throwing grenades.

Etymology

The word "grenade" derives from the French word for a "small explosive shell". Its first use in English dates from the 1590s. It is likely derived from Old French pomegranate (influenced by Spanish granada), so called because the many-seeded fruit suggested the powder-filled, fragmenting bomb, or from similarity of shape.

History

Early grenades

Rudimentary incendiary grenades appeared in the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, not long after the reign of Leo III (717-741). Byzantine soldiers learned that Greek fire, a Byzantine invention of the previous century, could not only be thrown by flamethrowers at the enemy, but also in stone and ceramic jars. Later, glass containers were employed. The use of Greek fire spread to Muslim armies in the Near East, from where it reached China by the 10th century.