What do we call a weapon that shoots arrows?

The story behind the answer

It’s the only weapon specifically designed to launch arrows, using the elastic energy of a bent stave and a string. The others serve different purposes: a spear is thrust or thrown by hand, a sling whips stones or lead shot, and a catapult hurls heavy projectiles with torsion or counterweights.

Throughout the Middle Ages, archers shaped battles and daily life. English longbowmen, armed with tall yew staves, fired rapidly and at long range, helping decide clashes like Crécy and Agincourt; on the steppes, composite designs favored cavalry archers. Arrowheads varied—broadheads for hunting, bodkins to pierce mail—while fletching kept shafts stable in flight. So central was archery that English laws required regular practice on Sundays.