 The etymology of the French word "pistolet" is disputed.It may be from a Czech word for early hand cannons, "píšťala" ("whistle" or "pipe"), or alternatively from Italian "pistolese", after Pistoia, a city renowned for Renaissance-era gunsmithing, where hand-held guns (designed to be fired from horseback) were first produced in the 1540s.The first suggestion derives the word from Czech "píšťala", a type of hand-cannon used in the Hussite Wars during the 1420s.