# قسطاس
## Arabic
### Alternative forms

* قِسْطَار (qisṭār), قُسْطَار (qusṭār), قَسْطَرِيّ (qasṭariyy), *سِقِسْطَار (*siqisṭār), سِقِنْطَار (siqinṭār), سِنِقْطَار (siniqṭār), سِقْطِرِيّ (siqṭiriyy)

### Etymology

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

* IPA: /qis.tˤaːs/, IPA: /qus.tˤaːs/

### Noun

قُسْطَاس or قِسْطَاس • (qusṭās or qisṭās) m (plural قَسَاطِيس (qasāṭīs))
* (obsolete) weigher, moneychanger
    Synonyms: وَزَّان (wazzān), صَرَّاف (ṣarrāf)

#### Usage notes

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
### References

* Shahîd, Irfan (2008) “Latin Loanwords”, in Versteegh, Kees, editor, Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics, volume 3, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 7 relates the derivation from Latin cōnstāns as “surrounded by questions”
* Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 198 about قسطاس rejects Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer’s derivation from Latin cōnstāns as semantically implausible and not supported by any Aramaic form
* Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, pages 279–280 about سقنطار, then connecting to Latin sēcrētārius
* Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 187 about قسطار, then connecting to Latin quaestor
* Fraenkel, Siegmund (1892) “قسطاس”, in Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes‎ (in German), volume 6, number 3, pages 258–262 finally connecting all; but in lack of an Aramaic form for ـس (-s) makes a dubious Coptic origin insinuation, the kind of which we nowadays distance ourselves from, as for أُسْقُف (ʔusquf) and س ج ن (s-j-n).
* Freytag, Georg (1833) “سِنِقْطَار”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎ (in Latin), volume 2, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 366b
* Růžička, Rudolf (1909) “Konsonantische Dissimilation in den semitischen Sprachen”, in Beiträge zur Assyriologie und semitischen Sprachwissenschaft‎ (in German), volume VI, number 4, Leipzig · Baltimore: J.C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung · The Johns Hopkins Press, page 6 connects سِقْطِرِيّ (siqṭiriyy) to Latin sēcrētārius, and Růžička, Rudolf (1909) “Konsonantische Dissimilation in den semitischen Sprachen”, in Beiträge zur Assyriologie und semitischen Sprachwissenschaft‎ (in German), volume VI, number 4, Leipzig · Baltimore: J.C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung · The Johns Hopkins Press, page 24 سِقِنْطَار (siqinṭār) and سِنِقْطَار (siniqṭār) to Latin sēcrētārius after Fraenkel which Fraenkel had already dismissed.
* Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “سنقطار”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎, Vienna, column 2687
* Wiedemann, Eilhard (1906) Beiträge zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften. VI. Zur Mechanik und Technik bei den Arabern (Sitzungsberichte der Physikalisch-medizinischen Sozietät; 38)‎ (in German), Erlangen: Junge & Sohn, published 1907, page 8
* “skwsṭr”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–