Perhaps, but prior to Galileo (or perhaps Avicenna?), Aristotelian physics dominated and motion was explained by 'impetus' (this didn't originate from Aristotle

Perhaps, but prior to Galileo (or perhaps Avicenna?), Aristotelian physics dominated and motion was explained by 'impetus' (this didn't originate from Aristotle, but instead came long after him). Aristotle distinguished between 'natural' motion, which is the motion of falling objects and 'violent' or 'unnatural' motion, which is caused by some agent (a human throwing a stone, for instance). In the theory of impetus, the agent imbues an object with some impetus, and this impetus is only ever temporary, the object stopping once its impetus is exhausted. Today, sure, we know that friction is a force that acts against the momentum of a moving object, but these were alien concepts a thousand years ago.