Kirat

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Kirat arabice pondus sumptum a semine xilocarate supra in kerates.


Apparatus:

B has Kirat not in headword position, but it is part of a paragraph beginning with the unrelated entry Kipariasos.
xilocarate jp | xilocaracte B ef | xilocrate AC
kerates AC fj | kerat. B e | karat p


Translation:

Kirat in Arabic is a weight taken from the seed of xilocarate {"carob-tree"}. See under kerates.


Commentary:

Kirat:
Cf. Wehr (1976): ﻗﻴﺮﺍﻄ /qīrāṭ/ "inch; a dry measure; a square measure; kerat, a weight".

ﻗﻴﺮﺍﻄ /qīrāṭ/ is derived from Greek κεράτιον /kerátion/, (lit.) "small horn", but also used for the seeds of the carob-tree. Carob seeds came to be used for weighing gold and gemstones, but also the purity of gold, because the Roman gold coin solidus weighed 24 carat seeds (about 4.5 grams), and consequently 24 carat came to mean 100% pure gold. /qīrāṭ/ is also the source of the pan-European word "carat".

xilocarate:
xilocarate, the word for "carob-tree" is one of a number of medieval Latin variants for Greek ξυλοκέρατον /xylokératon/ (lit. "little wood-horn"}, "Carob-tree, Ceratonia Siliqua".


WilfGunther (talk) 05/03/2014


See also: Kerates, Keration, Xilocerata, Karnub


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