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makkūk [Arabic]

Compare makuk

In the Arabic-speaking Middle East, especially Iraq, 7ᵗʰ century, a unit of mass, varying by locality. In Baghdad and al-Kūfah, about 5 5/8 kilograms. In al-Baṣrah and Wāsiṭ, about 6 kilograms.

examples

Then we discovered three baskets; one contained a makkūk³² of emeralds, but of a kind that I could imagine neither al-Mutawakkil nor indeed anyone else possessing. Another smaller basket contained half a makkūk of large beads which, by God, I had never dreamed al-Mutawakkil or anyone else could possess.

32. Measures like this and kaylajah, below, were subject to regional variation. A makkūk in Baghdad and al-Kufah weighed 5.625 kg, while in al-Baṣrah and Wāsiṭ it weighed 6 kg. In Iraq a kaylajah was one-third of a makkūk. See W. Hinz, Islamische Masse und Gewichte, 40, 44.

David Waines, trans. and annotator.
The History of al-Ṭabarī, vol. 36, The Revolt of the Zanj.
Bibliotheca Persica.
Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, circa 1992.
Page 9.
Tabari wrote in the 9ᵗʰ and early 10ᵗʰ centuries ce.

When the Muslims set out to fight the people of al-Ubullah, my husband and son went with them. They took two dirhams and a makkūk⁶¹¹ of raisins each.

611. The makkūk is a measure of weight. According to Ibn Manẓūr (Lisān al-Arab, s.v. m-k-k), it was best known among the people of Iraq. The weight of the makkūk was not fixed; it changed according to the usage agreed upon in each area (yakhtalifu miqdāruhu bi-’khtilāfi iṣṭilāh al-nas ‘alayhi fī al-bilād). See Hinz, Masse, 44; EI², s.v. “Makāyīl” (E. Ashtor), at VI, 118b, 119b.

Yohanan Friedmann, trans. and annotator.
The History of al-Ṭabarī, vol. 12, The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah and the Conquest of Syria and Palestine.
Bibliotheca Persica.
Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, circa 1992.
Page 171.