Etymology Dictionary

BAYONET,  a dagger at the end of a gun.  (F.)   Used by Burke; Select Works, ed. E. J. Payne, i. 111, l. 15.   Introduced in the 17th century, from F. baïonnette, formerly bayonette.   So called from Bayonne, in France, where they are said to have been first made, about 1650-1660.   It was used at Killiecrankie in 1689, and at Marsaglia by the French, in 1693.   See Haydn, Dict. of Dates. [†]

ADDENDA

The word, as Richardson points out, occurs as early as in Cotgrave, who has:  'Bayonnette, a kinde of small flat pocket dagger, furnished with knives; or a great knife to hang at the girdle like a dagger.'   Hence the usual story, that they were first made at Bayonne about 1650, cannot be correct.   The etymology, from Bayonne (accepted both by Littré and Scheler) may still be right; but it is clear that the word at first meant a kind of dagger independent of a gun.   The first edition of Cotgrave was that of 1611.   There is a good ntoe upon the word in N. and Q. 3 S. xii. 287.