How did one weigh tiny valuables time back way back? carat: from Arabic qirat fruit of the carob tree, also weight of 4 grains, from Greek keration carob seed. Carob beans were a standard for weighing small quantities. The Greek measure was the equivalent of the Roman siliqua, which was one-twentyfourth of a golden solidus of Constantine; hence karat took on a sense of a proportion of one twentyfourth and became a measure of gold purity (1550s). Eighteen carat gold is eighteen parts gold, six parts alloy. Carat was used as a measure of diamond weight from the 1570s in English.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 13:23:41 +0000
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