A handgun is any firearm designed to be held and fired with the hands and not supported by the shoulder.
The traditional definition of a pistol is a handgun with 1 chamber. This would include various single shots and semi-autos. The early revolvers were known as revolving pistols if you go back and look at the advertisements of the day.
Over the years guns with multiple cylinders that rotated were usually known as revolvers and single chamber guns pistols. The terms have been interchanged so much that today most people consider any handgun, even revolvers to be pistols. I prefer to use separate terms to describe revolvers and single chamber handguns, and use that terminology. But I no longer get upset with folks who choose to use the term pistol to mean any handgun.
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only since 1900 has pistol meant a semi automatic.
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You have to go back a lot farther than that. The debate began in the early 1800's when the first revolvers were made. They were looking for terms to separate the new revolvers from older single shots.