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A major problem confronting the study of the early history of gunpowder is ready access to sources close to the events described.
Often enough, the first records potentially describing use of gunpowder in warfare were written several centuries after the fact, and may well have been colored by the contemporary experiences of the chronicler.
It is also difficult to accurately translate original alchemy texts, especially medieval Chinese texts which employ metaphor to describe unexplained phenomena, into contemporary scientific language with its rigidly defined terminology.
The difficulty in translation has given rise to errors or loose interpretations bordering on artistic licence.
Early writings potentially mentioning gunpowder are sometimes marked by a linguistic process where old words acquired new meanings.
For instance, the Arabic word naft transitioned from denoting naphta to denoting gunpowder, and the Chinese word pao evolved from meaning catapult to referring to cannon.
According to science and technology historian Bert S. Hall: " It goes without saying, however, that historians bent on special pleading, or simply with axes of their own to grind, can find rich material in these terminological thickets.

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