Arabic

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Middle Persian [script needed] (kwstyk' /⁠kustīg⁠/, ritual girdle) (Persian کستی (kosti, kosti)), doublet of كُسْتَج (kustaj, blite).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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كُسْتِيج (kustījm (plural كَسَاتِيج (kasātīj))

  1. belt, girdle

Usage notes

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In the time of ʿUmar a زُنَّار (zunnār) would mean a belt worn by Christians, Jews, Sabians, Magians and other non-Muslims; for it had become fashionable in the Byzantine Empire under Diocletian and Constantine to wear a ζώνη (zṓnē) or cingulum which was first a symbol of servitude in public office and then in religious office. For Zoroastrians parallelly the conviction developed to wear a كُسْتِيج (kustīj, belt), whereas Babylonian Jews wore a هِمْيَان (himyān) הֶמְיָנָא (hemyānā, belt). Public officials in the Iranian empire wore a كَمَر (kamar, belt) without which no Iranian of distinction would go out, termed in Arabic مِنْطَقَة (minṭaqa, belt). With the new Muslim rulers the former girdles were imposed and the كَمَر (kamar) or مِنْطَقَة (minṭaqa) prohibited for non-Muslims. An Arabic term for “girdle” neutral from the beginning is حِزَام (ḥizām).

Declension

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References

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  • كستيج” in Almaany
  • Freytag, Georg (1837) “كستيج”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum[1] (in Latin), volume 4, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 33
  • Levy-Rubin, Mika (2011) Non-Muslims in the Early Islamic Empire. From Surrender to Coexistence., New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 154–157
  • Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “كستيج”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum[2], Vienna, column 1881