قسطاس

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Arabic

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Via an Aramaic term retained in Classical Syriac ܣܓܘܣܛܪܐ (səgosṭārā) and other Syriac spellings from Ancient Greek ζυγοστάτης (zugostátēs, weigher), which also passed into Latin zygostatēs. For the stem ending in ـس (-s), maybe also denoting the occupation after ζυγοστασία (zugostasía), ζυγοστάτησις (zugostátēsis, weighing). Influenced by قِسْط (qisṭ, share).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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قُسْطَاس or قِسْطَاس (qusṭās or qisṭāsm (plural قَسَاطِيس (qasāṭīs))

  1. (obsolete) weigher, moneychanger
    Synonyms: وَزَّان (wazzān), صَرَّاف (ṣarrāf)

Usage notes

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After antiquity, when the word was no more understood, occurrences such as in the Qurʾān were frequently interpreted as “balance, scales”, and reused as such in few book titles and technical texts – e.g. the 1121 work كِتَاب مِيزَان الْحِكْمَة (kitāb mīzān al-ḥikma) of Al-Ḵāzinīy, surely not abiding by living language – including the particular phrasing الْقِسْطَاس الْمُسْتَقِيم (al-qisṭās al-mustaqīm) from Q 26:182.

Declension

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References

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