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The German word "Armbrust" (crossbow) is somewhat funny: it translates "arm-chest", and a lot of Germans would think, this has something to do with the way you handle this weapon (using your arms and holding it in front of your chest). But the etymology is completely different. It's from Latin "arcuballists" (bow catapult).
This kind of folk etymology appears fairly often in Germany and I would say it's quite effective. Take the German word for "hammock": Hängematte ("hanging mat"), which describes exactly the purpose of the object, just by taking up the sound of the original word (via the Spanis "hamaca") and changing it a bit.