‖ miskal
(ˈmɪskəl)
Forms: 6 met-, mitical, -gal, 7 medical, mesticall, meticalle, mettegal, miticale, miscolle, 8 muscal, 9 mes-, met-, mitch-, mith-, miskal, -kel, -call, mitkul.
[Arab. miþqāl (locally misqāl, mitqāl), f. þaqala to weigh. The 17th cent. forms in Eng. come mostly through Sp. mitical, Pg. matical, metical.]
1. An Arabian measure of weight, equivalent to 24 carats or about 1½ dirhems; the corresponding English weight is given variously for different countries at from 71 to 74 grains Troy.
| 1555 Eden Decades (1885) 263, xi. Fanans and a quarter, is one Mitigal: And .vi. Mitigales and a halfe, make one vnce. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage vi. vii. (1614) 687 Euery Mittigall being a Duckat of Gold, and a third part. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 67 The Medical is a Drachm and a half. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 406 Their lowest Weight is a Miscolle;..whereof 6 make an Ounce. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) I. v. lxiv. 293 The muscal through all Persia is the same..6 dunk 1 muscal 6 muscals 1 dram. 1836 Lane Mod. Egypt II. 372 The cheera{p}t (or carat),..as above mentioned, is the 24th part of a mitcka{p}l. 1884 J. Payne 1001 Nights IX. 83 Make it not large, a mithcal in weight and no more. 1886 Yule & Burnell Hobson-Jobson Suppl., Miscall,..an Arabian weight, originally that of the Roman aureus and the gold dīnār; about 73 grs. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 627/1 The unit of weight [in Persia] is the miskâl (71 grains), subdivided into 24 nakhods (2·96 grains). |
2. In Morocco, a money of account.
| 1695 Motteux tr. St.-Olon's Morocco 145 The Meticalle or Ducat for the generality is nothing real, but such a manner of counting as by Francs or Livres in France. 1845 G. C. Renouard in Encycl. Metrop. XXII. 285/1 (art. Morocco), 1 Mithkál, or ducat, (an imaginary coin) = 10 waklyahs = 3s. 4d. Ibid. marg., Miskel. |