There seem to be 8 cases of the a-p using "mortier" for a weapon that would in the late 16th-c be called "petard" in English and in French. We should translate this "mortar", rather than "petard" as we have done up to now, and, on each instance on a page have an ed comment that explains this. At this time, it is only in the glossary, but I think it's misleading to translate as "petard" when the word was apparently being used in French, but the a-p does not use it (which seems significant). If anyone disagrees with this course of action, let me know.
I asked Pascal Brioist what he thought about leaving "mortier" or mortar in the text, with an ed note each time that explains this is a petard, and here is his answer: "For the translation, this might be a good idea to keep the ambiguity but let us make sure that our reader would understand it is definitely a petard." We have 2 choices: 1. Translate as petard, with an ed note that explains the use of "mortier" 2. Leave it as Mortier (w/ Fr tags) and explain that it is a petard 3. Translate as Mortar, and explain that it is a petard.
I can't decide which is best; 1. is less work (as it is already translated as petard), and sort of the cleanest.
Any strong feelings among all of you? @Pantagrueliste @thuchacz @TillmannTaape ???