kentledge

Jul. 11th, 2016 07:52 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (words are sexy)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
kentledge (KENT-lij) - n., (Naut.) pig iron or scrap metal used as permanent ballast.


To keep the ship balanced, that is -- in contrast, I suppose, to either stones or cargo. Unsure. So is the origin, but it's attested from 1607: only one dictionary seems willing to venture a guess, that it's perhaps from Old French quintelage, ballast, from quintal, hundredweight, ultimately from Arabic qintār (no meaning given for that last).

---L.

Date: 2016-07-12 04:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thistleingrey.livejournal.com
Interesting. OED (1901) suggests that it circles around, s.v. kantar, n.:
Etymology: < Arabic qintār, plural qanātīr, < (probably through Syriac) Latin centēnārium centenary n. In Old French quantar, canter, medieval Latin cantār(i)um (Du Cange), Italian cantáro.

Date: 2016-07-12 02:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] prettygoodword.livejournal.com
!!

Journeys through Arabic and back into IE are interesting.

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