<P> An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned . Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English; see spelling differences) are mostly regarded as synonyms, although subtle differences in usage exist . </P> <P> A sub-armory is a place of temporary storage or carrying of weapons and ammunition, such as any temporary post or patrol vehicle that is only operational in certain times of the day . </P> <P> From Italian: arsenale, and French: arsenal, from Arabic: دار الصناعة ‎, dār aṣ - ṣināʕa, meaning "manufacturing shop". </P> <P> A lower - class arsenal, which can furnish the materiel and equipment of a small army, may contain a laboratory, gun and carriage factories, small - arms ammunition, small - arms, harness, saddlery tent and powder factories; in addition, it must possess great store - houses . In a second - class arsenal, the factories would be replaced by workshops . The situation of an arsenal should be governed by strategic considerations . If of the first class, it should be situated at the base of operations and supply, secure from attack, not too near a frontier, and placed so as to draw in readily the resources of the country . The importance of a large arsenal is such that its defences would be on the scale of those of a large fortress . </P>

From which language does the word arsenal come