Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Carbine , noun

[French carbine, Old French calabrin carabineer (compare Ot. calabrina a policeman), from OF & Pr. calabre, Old French cable, chable, an engine of war used in besieging, from Late Latin chadabula, cabulus, a kind of projectile machine, from Greek {not transcribed} a throwing down, from {not transcribed} to throw; {not transcribed} down + {not transcribed} to throw. Compare Parable.]