Late 17th century; earliest use found in Jacob Richards (d. 1701), military engineer. From German Haubitze from Old Czech haufnicě (Czech houfnice) piece of artillery for firing shells (formerly ‘wooden slingshot, military catapult’), ultimately from Old Czech húf, hauf (Czech houf) multitude, crowd, heap, with allusion to the ability of this kind of machine to fire numerous missiles in a single shot.