Parthian

Parthian (pronounced pahr-thee-un)

(1) A native or inhabitant of Parthia.

(2) An Iranian language of ancient and medieval Parthia.

(3) Of or relating to, or characteristic of Parthia, its inhabitants, or their language.

522: (Although use may predate the first recorded use)  It refers to a native or inhabitant of Parthia (ancient kingdom northeast of Persia in western Asia) and was from the Old Persian Parthava (a dialectal variant of the stem Parsa (and the source of Persia (the plural was Partienes))).  In English, Parthian had been used by historians and geographers since the 1520s and the familiar adjectival form "Parthian shot" dates from 1822 but images of the act had existed for two millennia and had since the 1630s been referred to as the Parthian fight (1630s).  Shakespeare liked the word: Or, like the Parthian, I shall flying fight (Cymbeline (circa 1610), Act I, Scene VII).

It’s a Parthian, not a parting shot

The term Parthian shot is a metaphor to describe a barbed insult, delivered as the speaker departs.  Many use it incorrectly, saying parting shot.  The Parthian shot is a military tactic used by mounted cavalry made famous by the Parthians, an ancient Iranian people.  While in real or feigned retreat on horseback, the archers would turn their bodies back in full gallop to shoot at the pursuing enemy.  This demanded fine equestrian skills because the riders’ hands were occupied by his bows and arrows.  Nor did the Parthians use stirrups or spurs; riders relied solely on pressure from their legs to guide and control their galloping beasts and, with varying degrees of success, the tactic was adopted by many mounted military formations of the era including the Scythians, Huns, Turks, Magyars, and Mongols.  The Parthian Empire existed between 247 BC–224 AD.

The RAF tried a variation of the Parthian shot with Bolton-Paul Defiant, a single-engined fighter and Battle of Britain contemporary of the better remembered Spitfire and Hurricane.  Uniquely, the Defiant had no forward-firing armaments, all its firepower being concentrated in four .303 machine guns in a turret behind the pilot.  The theory behind the design dates from the 1930s when the latest multi-engined monoplane bombers were much faster than contemporary single-engined biplane fighters then in service. The RAF considered its new generation of heavily-armed bombers would be able to penetrate enemy airspace and defend themselves without a fighter escort and this of course implied enemy bombers would similarly be able to penetrate British airspace with impunity.

By 1935, the concept of a turret-armed fighter emerged.  The RAF anticipated having to defend Great Britain against massed formations of unescorted enemy bombers and, in theory, turret-armed fighters would be able approach formations from below or from the side and coordinate their fire.  In design terms, it was a return to what often was done early in the First World War, though that had been technologically deterministic, it being then quite an engineering challenge to produce reliable, safe forward firing guns.  Deployed not as intended, but as a fighter used against escorted bombers, the Defiant, despite initial success, proved too vulnerable against single-seat fighters and the heavy losses proved unsustainable.  However, it subsequently proved a useful stop-gap as a night-fighter and provided the RAF with an effective means of combating night bombing until aircraft designed for the purpose entered service.