اسطرلاب
أَسْطُرْلَابٌ or أُسْطُرْلَابٌ, [
accord. to different copies of the
K,] and with ص in the place of س, [from the Greek ἀστρολαβόν, An astrolabe: a word of which
F gives the following fanciful derivation:] لاب was a man who traced some lines, and founded upon them calculations; whence أَسْطُرُلَابٍ [the lines of
Láb], from which was formed the compound word اسطرلاب, and اصطرلاب, the س being changed into ص because of the ط following. (
K in art. لوب.) It is either an arabicized or a
post-classical word:
accord. to the Niháyet el-Adab, the names of all the instruments by which time is known, whether by means of calculation or water or sand, are foreign to the Arabic language. (
MF.)
