# قفيز
## Arabic
### Etymology

From Aramaic קְפִיזָא / ܩܦܝܙܐ (qəp̄īzā). It is a dry measure the oldest attestation of which is Demotic kpḏ (“a standard measure of 100 ml, applicable to dry and liquid content”), later Coptic ϭⲁⲡⲉⲓϫⲉ (capeiče), and it is to be identified with Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (kpyc /⁠kabīz⁠/), Classical Persian کویز (kawīz), کویژ (kawîž), Central Kurdish کەویژ (kewîj), کێوِژ (kêwij), Ancient Greek καπίθη (kapíthē) (in Xenophon’s Anabasis), dialectal Modern Greek καπίθιον (kapíthion), Parthian [script needed] (kpyš), Sogdian [script needed] (kpc), Bactrian καβσο (kabso), καβιζο (kabizo), Khwarezmian [script needed] (kpcyk), Old Armenian կապիճ (kapič), Mush Armenian կապեճ (kapeč), Hamshen Armenian կապճակ (kapčak), կապիծ (kapic), Old Georgian კაპიჭი (ḳaṗič̣i), კაბიწი (ḳabic̣i), Laz კაპიწი (ǩap̌iǯi), Ossetian къабиц (k’abic), къӕбиц (k’æbic), Classical Mandaic [script needed] (qabīṣā), Turkish gebiç, kapis, kebiç, kepiç, kepinç, kepis, gabiz, kepiz.
For speculated origin, compare Akkadian 𒆏𒁍 (/⁠kappu⁠/, “originally meaning “hand” from Proto-Semitic *kapp-, cupped hands; a bowl, a small serving container”), possibly with a later Iranian language suffix or from a yet to be attested addition of 𒅖 (/⁠-iš⁠/, “to be -like”), rendering a literal meaning “to be hand-like, to be like cupped hands”. Alternatively related to Urartian 𒅗𒉿 (ka-pi /⁠kapi⁠/, “a grain measure”), both it and the Akkadian being of no little frequency, or even Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- (“fassen”) or *(s)kep- (“to work with a sharp instrument”).

### Noun

قَفِيز • (qafīz) m (plural أَقْفِزَة (ʔaqfiza) or قُفْزَان (qufzān))
* (obsolete) a dry measure
** (medieval Iraq)
*** (al-Kūfa, Bağdād) about 60 litres
*** (al-Baṣra, Wāṣiṭ) about 30 litres
** (medieval Palestine) about 152 litres
** (medieval Tunisia) varying between about 170–200 litres
** (medieval Cordoba) 44.16 litres
** (Morocco until 1923, Algeria until 1843, Tunisia until 1895) 528.4 litres

#### Descendants

* → Catalan: cafís
* → English: qafiz
* → Italian: cafiso
* → Medieval Latin: cafisium
* → Old Leonese: cafiz
** Asturian: cafiz
** Leonese: caffiz
* → Persian: قفیز (qafiz), کفیز (kafîz)
* → Old Galician-Portuguese: cafiz
** Galician: cacifo, cachifro, cachíforo, cacifre, cacifro
** Portuguese: cacifo
* → Sicilian: cafisu
* → Old Spanish: cafiz
** Spanish: cahíz

### References

* “qpyz”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
* Ačaṙean, Hračʻeay (1973) “կապիճ”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, a reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, volume II, Yerevan: University Press, page 525ab
* Ciancaglini, Claudia A. (2008) Iranian loanwords in Syriac (Beiträge zur Iranistik; 28)‎, Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, page 250
* Corriente, F. (1997) A Dictionary of Andalusi Arabic (Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East; 29)‎, Leiden, New York, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 436
* Corriente, Federico, Pereira, Christophe, Vicente, Angeles, editors (2017), Dictionnaire du faisceau dialectal arabe andalou. Perspectives phraséologiques et étymologiques (in French), Berlin: De Gruyter, →ISBN, page 1049
* Corriente, Federico (2008) “cafís”, in Dictionary of Arabic and Allied Loanwords. Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Galician and Kindred Dialects (Handbook of Oriental Studies; 97), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 240
* Dankoff, Robert (1995) Armenian Loanwords in Turkish (Turcologica; 21), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, page 75
* Dozy, Reinhart Pieter Anne (1881) “قفيز”, in Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes‎ (in French), volume 2, Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 383
* Edelʹman, D. I. (2011) Etimologičeskij slovarʹ iranskix jazykov [Etymological Dictionary of Iranian Languages] (in Russian), volume IV, Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura, page 227
* Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 207
* Freytag, Georg (1835) “قفيز”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎ (in Latin), volume 3, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 480
* Hinz, Walther (1955, 1970) Islamische Maße und Gewichte: umgerechnet ins metrische System (Handbuch der Orientalistik. Erste Abteilung: der nahe und der mittlere Osten; Ergänzungsband 1, Heft 1) (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, pages 48–50
* Lagarde, Paul de (1866) Gesammelte Abhandlungen (in German), Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, page 81 Nr. 207
* Nöldeke, Theodor (1879) Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden. Aus der arabischen Chronik des Tabari übersetzt und mit ausführlichen Erläuterungen und Ergänzungen versehn‎ (in German), Leyden: E. J. Brill, page 246 fn. 6
* Ritner, Robert Kriech (1996) “The Earliest Attestation of the kpḏ-Measure”, in Studies in Honor of William Kelly Simpson, volume 2, Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, →ISBN, pages 683–688
* Sauvaire, Henri (1886) “Matériaux pour servir à l’histoire de la numismatique et de la mythologie musulmanes”, in Journal asiatique (in French), published Part I in 1879 Autumn 455, Part II 1884 Spring 368, Part II continuation 1884 in Autumn 207, Part II end in 1885 Spring 498, Part III in 1886 Spring 124, Part III continuation in 1886 Spring 394, Part III other continuation 1886 Autumn 272, Part IV 1886 Autumn 479, page 282 of part three other continuation
* Schmitt, Rüdiger (2007) “Brust, M.: Die indischen und iranischen Lehnwörter im Griechischen”, in Kratylos‎, volume 52, page 82
* Wehr, Hans with Kropfitsch, Lorenz (1985) “قفيز”, in Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart‎ (in German), 5th edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, published 2011, →ISBN, page 1047
* Widengren, Geo (1960) Iranisch-semitische Kulturbegegnung in parthischer Zeit (Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Forschung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen: Geisteswissenschaften; 70) (in German), Köln: Westdeutscher Verlag, →DOI, →ISBN, page 94