hasta
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈhæstə/
rhymes: -æstə
ipa: /ˈɑːstə/
rhymes: -ɑːstə
ipa: /ˈhʌstə/
rhymes: -ʌstə
Forms: form: hastae
Etymology: Learned borrowing from Latin hasta.
Senses: examples: text: In Table I the hastae of n and m are regularly vertical and of the same height, while in II a and II b they vary in height and are often out of the perpendicular.
ref: 1897, R[obert] S[eymour] Conway, “356–367 Tabulae Iguvinae”, in The Italic Dialects […], volume I, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: At the University Press, →OCLC, page 402:
text: In the 12th century in Persia and later in Anatolia a new style of monumental kufic becomes the rule, with the tall hastae of the letters plaited.
ref: 1976, Basil Gray, “Introduction to the Exhibition”, in The Arts of Islam: Hayward Gallery, 8 April–4 July 1976, [London]: Arts Council of Great Britain, →ISBN, page 29:
text: On Mamlūk metalware, inscriptions appear not only in continuous and intersecting bands which may occupy a considerable part of an object, but also in a circular arrangement in which the hastae of the letters point towards the centre.
ref: 1984, Eva Baer, “Maʿdin”, in C[lifford] E[dmund] Bosworth, E[meri] van Donzel, B[ernard] Lewis, Ch[arles] Pellat, editors, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, [2nd] edition, volume V (Fascicules 93–94; Maʿalt͟hāyā–al-Mad͟jarra), Leiden: E. J. Brill, →ISBN, page 992, column 1:
text: The “stem and leaf” motif covering the area between the long hastae of the letters is delineated by a quick curving stroke with curls, “comma-shaped” leaves and dots, which resemble the sprays on Fatimid lustre-wares (fig.2.). […] The long hastae of the letters on the Ḥamā piece are not emphasised by parallel strokes but seem to belong to less elaborate writing styles, while the curling stem between the alif and lām finds its exact parallel on Fāṭimid lustre-painted vessels, of the 11th-12th century.
ref: 1985, Helen Philon, “Stems, Leaves and Water-Weeds: Underglaze-Painted Pottery in Syria and Egypt”, in Julian Raby, editor, The Art of Syria and the Jazīra, 1100-1250 (Oxford Studies in Islamic Art; 1), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Oxford University Press for the Board of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, →ISBN, page 114:
text: In the following chapters of the Literatum Latinarum Mercator then develops a prescriptive guide how to perform the ductus of writing by measuring the individual letters of the alphabet against these ideal proportions of the letter y and analyzing them according to his categorization of the line types into elements (‘hastae’ and ‘codae’), all of which, however crooked they may be, can always be accurately calculated. The cursivization of the hastae, the ligature of the letters by means of hairlines and the spaces separating the letters are most precisely covered by his rules.
ref: 2011 February 15, Sonja Neef, translated by Anthony Mathews, “Before a Line”, in Imprint and Trace: Handwriting in the Age of Technology, London: Reaktion Books, →ISBN, page 54:
text: The Π of CE 3 has a shorter right hasta and the horizontal bar projects to the right, while in CE 1, the hastae are equal or almost equal in length and the horizontal bar varies, sometimes projecting, sometimes not.
ref: 2011 June 30, Ian S. Moyer, “The story according to Apollonios and Maiistas”, in Egypt and the Limits of Hellenism, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, chapter 3 (The Delian Sarapis aretalogy and the politics of syncretism), footnote 42, page 156:
text: The uppercase letters of the classical Latin alphabet, as well as the lowercase forms that evolved later, more often than not begin with a hasta on the left side and have a coda to the right. […] We refer to letters with a hasta to the right of the coda as b-type letters.
ref: 2013, Rebecca Treiman, Brett Kessler, “Similarities among the shapes of writing and their effects on learning”, in Susanne R. Borgwaldt, Terry Joyce, editors, Typology of Writing Systems (Benjamins Current Topics; 51), Amsterdam; Philadelphia, Pa.: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 42:
text: A plains sheet of metal has been cut into the form of an epsilon (one of the hastae broken away).
ref: 2017, Japer Gaunt, “Metal Objects (207–282)”, in Bonna D. Wescoat, The Monuments of the Eastern Hill (Samothrace: Excavations Conducted by the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University; 9), Princeton, N.J.: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, →ISBN, page 433, column 2:
text: Eternity was, by the ancients, drawn either ſitting on a Globe, or rather Sphere, with a Haſta in her hand; or ſtanding, with the Sphere in one hand, and the Haſta in the other; or with the Sphere in her hand, and no Haſta; or elſe covered with a floating Veil.
ref: 1765, [Johann Joachim] Winkelmann, translated by Henry Fuseli, “An Answer to the Foregoing Letter, and a Further Explication of the Subject”, in Reflections on the Painting and Sculpture of the Greeks: […], London: […] [F]or the Translator, and Sold by A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, pages 212–213:
text: They divided the hair with a hasta. […] some suppose that the hasta was prospectively typical.
ref: 1849, Patrick Colquhoun, “Title IV. The Paternal Authority—[…]”, in A Summary of the Roman Civil Law, […], volume I, part I, London: William Benning and Co., […], →OCLC, § 549, page 466:
text: To control the prisoners, we will need a few shortened hastae. […] As everyone will be armed with his short sword, one hasta per profile should be adequate. I will prepare a request for food and shortened hastae. […] The quartermaster may have to prepare the hastae since they now are a ceremonial weapon.
ref: 2018 August 21, Joe Mack High, “The Legion”, in The Centurion: A Tale of the Crucifixion, Bloomington, Ind.: Archway Publishing, →ISBN:
coordinate_terms: coda
qualifier: handwriting
glosses: A spear carried by early Roman legionaries.