How Battery (Beating) Became Battery (Electric)

Prof. Mark Liberman (Language Log) has the story. [UPDATE: Link fixed; sorry about the error!]

Comments

[Magister]

“Frustrated Oaklanders confront Alameda County DA over surge in crime”?

Probably wanted
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=59938

[Dr. Ed 2]

It’s what I figured — and remember that the 12 volt battery is actually six 2 volt cells wired in series.

The old 32 volt (DC) home electric plant — common in rural America before powerlines arrived — consisted of 16 glass cells wired in series, a battery of cells.

[Magister]

A single device generating electricity from a chemical reaction is properly a cell; a battery combines multiple cells, but the word is also used for single cells (like the very common AA and AAA batteries). That battery meaning comes from the cluster of cannons meaning; outside the legal sense, battery mostly means multiple entities working together for a common purpose. So a battery of lawyers could get you into legal trouble or out of legal trouble.

[jimc5499]

The main cell that is used is the 18650 cell and it is 3.6 volts.

[Dr. Ed 2]

No it is neither.
It actually ranges between 2.5 volts and 4.2 volts depending on the charge, and it is also NOT the most common type of battery.

Sheer numbers would be some version of carbon/zinc or alkaline batteries, which have a voltage between 1.0 and 1.65.

Sheer usage would be lead acid batteries which run 1.8 to 2.2 volts.

[Eugene Volokh]

D'oh, fixed!

[Guardian253]

Why is "battery" called criminal "assault" in some states?

[SRG]

Is it? In common law, assault was the causing of the victim to apprehend immediate unlawful violence and battery was the impact, but one can appreciate how popularly "assault" came to mean the violence itself.

[Brett Bellmore]

Assault and battery have typically been treated as separate, but related, crimes. However, in some states the definition for one or both of the crimes has changed over time, and in some places the two have been combined into a single offense.

[SRG]

And see also: https://www.etymonline.com/word/battery

(One of my favourite sites, fwiw)

[cmcc_aus]

Somewhere along the way, in baseball, a catcher and pitcher together came to be called the battery. I don't have the reference, it derived battery as a reference to two telegraph operators sending messages back and forth. So, even though the pitcher and catcher are throwing a hard object, and so the metaphor could be traced back to cannon-fire, the metaphor is more 'modern', electric even.

[ReaderY]

Wondering if the first step, “a battery of artillery,” was a heraldic collective similar to “an exaltation of larks” or “a leap of leopards.” The word “battery” would straightforwardly refer to what artillery DOES. Once it became intrenched to people to refer to a “battery” as a simple collective noun associated with artillery without any memory or thought as to why, they might then use the term for a collective of things, like Leyden jars, that LOOK somewhat like artillery. The original reason why “battery” was chosen as the collective term, the behavior rather than the appearance, would have been forgotten in the transition.

[cmcc_aus]

Taking a step backward from this argument...
'Batter' as a noun might be a mixture of flour and eggs, but it only becomes 'batter' when the mixture is beaten. 'Batter' as a verb, outside of the legal realm, suggests the breaking down of walls and structures, whether with sledge hammers or cannons. Of course the legal term, 'battery' as the noun form, comes from that meaning but (IANL) I don't believe the legal system uses the verb 'to batter' for a simple assault. We don't say that plaintiff claims that assailant battered her. To batter might be to dip into flour, in preparation for frying. That would be an aggravated assault. Add salt and pepper.
The term 'batter' would have come into Middle English from Norman French, and from there its meanings have spread far and wild, seed of the Normans.

[Intelligent Mr Toad]

I suppose we could say that the pandemic was a form of battery.

[Abdul Abulbul Amir]

Or we could say the governmental reaction to the viral pandemic was a form of battery.