means A light spear designed to be thrown, used as a weapon historically and now chiefly as the implement in a track-and-field throwing event.

from From Old French 'javeline,' a diminutive of 'javelot' meaning a light throwing spear. The word is generally traced to a Celtic source — likely related to Gaulish, with cousins in Welsh 'gaflach' (a barbed spear). So the menace was Celtic before it was ever French, and French before it ever wore a number bib.