المَاسُ

Full Definition

المَاسُ , not أَلْمَاسٌ, i. e., with the disjunctive hemzeh, for this is an incorrect pronunciation, of the vulgar, as Sgh and others have plainly asserted; but IAth says, I think that the hemzeh and lám in it are radical letters, as they are in الياس, [i. e., إِلْيَاس or أَلْيَاس,] and it is not Arabic; and if so, its place is under the letter hemzeh, because they say أَلْمَاسٌ; but if they be [prefixed] for the purpose of rendering the word determinate, the present is its [proper] place; [The diamond;] a certain precious stone, reckoned among jewels, like the يَاقُوت and the زُمُرُّرذ, the largest of which is like the walnut, or the egg of the pigeon, and this is rare, or very rare, the only instance being said to be the one called الكَوْكَبُ الدُّرِّىُّ, which is suspended at the tomb of the Prophet: it breaks all stony bodies, and the holding it in the mouth breaks the teeth, and fire has no effect upon it, nor iron, but only lead breaks it and powders it, [a strange mistake, for it is well known that it is powdered by being pounded in a steel mortar,] after which it is taken [in the state of powder] upon drills, and pearls &c. are drilled with it.

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Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon

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