سَاقٌ
shank
The shank; i. e. the part between the knee and the foot of a human being; (Msb;) or the part between the ankle and the knee (K, TA) of a human being; (TA;) the ساق of the human foot: (S, TA:) and [the part properly corresponding thereto, i. e. the thigh commonly so called, and also the arm, of a beast;] the part above the وَظِيف of the horse and mule and ass and camel, and the part above the كُرَاع of the ox-kind and sheep or goat and antelope: (TA:) [it is also sometimes applied to the shank commonly so called, of the hind leg, and, less properly, of the fore leg, of a beast: and to the bone of any of the parts above mentioned: and sometimes, by synecdoche, to the hind leg, and, less properly, to the fore leg also, of a beast: it generally corresponds to ذِرَاعٌ: of a bird, it is the thigh commonly so called: and sometimes the shank commonly so called: and, by synecdoche, the leg:] it is of the fem. gender: (Msb, TA:) and for this reason, (TA,) the dim. is ↓ سُوَيْقَةٌ: (Msb, TA:) the pl. [of mult.] is سُوقٌ (S, Mgh, O, Msb, K) and سِيقَانٌ and [of pauc.] أَسْوأُقٌ, (S, O, K,) the و in this last being with ء in order that it may bear the dammeh. (O, K.) A poet says, " لِلْفَتَى عَقْلٌ يَعِيشُ بِهِ حَيْثُ تَهْدِى سَاقَهُ قَدَمُهْ " meaning The young man has intelligence whereby he lives when his foot directs aright his shank. (IAar, TA.) And one says of a man when difficulty, or calamity, befalls him, كَشَفَ عَنْ سَاقِهِ [lit. He uncovered his shank; meaning (assumed tropical:) he prepared himself for difficulty]: so says IAmb: and hence, he says, (TA, [in which a similar explanation is cited from ISd also,]) they mention the ساق when they mean to express the difficulty of a case or an event, and to tell of the terror occasioned thereby. (K, TA.) Thus, the saying يَوْمَ يُكْشَفُ عَنْ سَاقٍ, (S, K, TA,) in the Kur [lxviii. 42], (S, TA,) [lit. On a day when a shank shall be uncovered,] means (assumed tropical:) on a day when difficulty, or calamity, shall be disclosed. (I'Ab, Mujáhid, S, K, TA.) It is like the saying, قَامَتِ الحَرْبُ عَلَى سَاقٍ, (S, TA,) which means (assumed tropical:) The war, or battle, became vehement, (Msb in this art. and in art. حرب,) so that safety from destruction was difficult of attainment: (Id. in art. حرب:) and كَشَفَتِ الحَرْبُ عَنْ سَاقٍ, [as also شَمَّرَتْ عَنْ سَاقِهَا,] i. e. (assumed tropical:) The war, or battle, became vehement. (Jel in lxviii. 42.) And in like manner, وَٱلْتَفَّتِ ٱلسَّاقُ بِالسَّاقِ, (K, TA,) in the Kur [lxxv. 29], (TA,) means (assumed tropical:) And the affliction of the present state of existence shall be combined with that of the final state: (K, TA:) or it means when the [one] leg shall be inwrapped with the other leg by means of the grave-clothes. (TA.) One says also, قَامَ القَوْمُ عَلَى سَاقٍ (assumed tropical:) The people or party, became in a state of toil, and trouble, or distress. (TA.) And قَرَعَ لِلْأَمْرِ سَاقَهُ, [originating from one's striking the shin of his camel in order to make him lie down to be mounted; lit. He struck his shank for the affair;] meaning (assumed tropical:) he prepared himself for the thing, or affair; syn. تَشَمَّرَ: (JK:) or he was, or became, light, or active, and he rose, or hastened, to do the thing; or (assumed tropical:) he applied himself vigorously, or diligently, or with energy, to the thing, or affair; i. q. شَمَّرَ لَهُ [q. v.]; (TA;) or تَجَرَّدَ لَهُ. (A and TA in art. قرع [q. v.: see also ظُنْبُوبٌ, in several places].) [It is also said that] أَوْهَتْ بِسَاقٍ means كِدْتُ أَفْعَلُ [i. e. I nearly, or almost, did what I purposed: but this explanation seems to have been derived only from what here, as in the TA, immediately follows]: Kurt says, describing the wolf, " وَلٰكِنِّى رَمَيْتُكَ مِنْ بَعِيدٍ فَلَمْ أَفْعَلْ وَقَدْ أَوْهَتْ بِسَاقِ " [i. e., app., But I shot at thee from afar, and I did not what I purposed, though it (the shot, الرَّمْيَةُ, I suppose, being meant to be understood,) maimed a shank: which virtually means, though I nearly did what I purposed: the poet, I assume, says اوهت بساق for the sake of the measure and rhyme, for أَوْهَتْ سَاقًا: see what is said, in the explanations of the preposition بِ, respecting the phrase وَٱمْسَحُوا بِرُوأُٓسِكُمْ]. (TA.) ― -b2- By a secondary application, سَاقٌ signifies (assumed tropical:) [A greave; i. e.] a thing that is worn on the ساق [or shank] of the leg, made of iron or other material. (Mgh.) ― -b3- Also (tropical:) [The stem, stock, or trunk, i. e.] the part between the أَصْل [here meaning root, or foot, (though it is also syn. with ساق in the sense in which the latter is here explained,)] and the place where the branches shoot out; (TA;) or the support; (Msb;) or the جِذْع; (S, K;) of a tree, or shrub: (S, Msb, K, TA:) pl. [of mult.] سُوقٌ (Msb, TA) and سُوقٌ and سُوُوقٌ and سُوأُوقٌ and [of pauc.] أَسْوُقٌ and أَسْوأُقٌ. (TA.) It is related in a trad. of Mo'áwiyeh, that a man said, I applied to him to decide in a litigation with the son of my brother, and began to overcome him therein; whereupon he said, Thou art like as Aboo-Duwád says, " أَنَّى أُتِيحَ لَهُ حِرْبَآءُ تَنْضُبَةٍ لَا يُرْسِلُ السَّاقَ إِلَّا مُمْسِكًا سَاقَا " [Whencesoever, or however, a preparation is made for him, to catch him, he is like a chameleon of a tree of the kind called تَنْضُب, he will not loose the stem thereof unless grasping a stem]: he meant that no plea of his came to nought but he clung to another; likening him to the chameleon, which places itself facing the sun, and ascends half-way up the tree, or shrub, then climbs to the branches when the sun becomes hot, then climbs to a higher branch, and will not loose the former until it grasps the other. (O, TA. *) ― -b4- [Hence, perhaps, as it seems to be indicated in the O,] one says, وَلَدَتْ فُلَانَةُ ثَلَاثَةَ بَنِينَ عَلَى سَاقٍ, (K, [in the copies of which, however, I find ثَلَاثَ put for ثَلَاثَةَ,]) or عَلَى سَاقٍ وَاحِدٍ, (S,) or وَاحِدَةٍ, (O,) i. e. (tropical:) Such a woman brought forth three sons, one after another, without any girl between them: (S, O, K, TA:) so says ISk: and وُلِدَ لِفُلَانٍ ثَلَاثَةُ أَوْلَادٍ سَاقًا عَلَى سَاقٍ, i. e. (tropical:) Three children were born to such a one, one after another. (TA.) And بَنَى القَوْمُ بُيُوتَهُمْ عَلَى سَاقٍ وَاحِدٍ (assumed tropical:) [The people, or party, built their houses, or constructed their tents, in one row or series]. (TA.) ― -b5- سَاقٌ also signifies (assumed tropical:) The soul, or self; syn. نَفْسٌ: hence the saying of 'Alee (in the war of the [schismatics called] شُرَاة), لَابُدَّ لِى مِنْ قِتَالِهِمْ وَلَوْ تَلِفَتْ سَاقِى (assumed tropical:) [There is not for me any way of avoiding combating them, though my soul, or self, should perish by my doing so]. (Abu-l-' Abbás, O, TA.) So too in the saying, قَدَحَ فِى سَاقِهِ [as though meaning (tropical:) He cankered his very soul]: (IAar, TA in art. قدح:) [or] he deceived him, and did that which was displeasing to him: (L in that art.:) or (tropical:) he impugned his honour, or reputation; from the action of canker-worms (قَوَادِح) cankering the stem, or trunk, of a shrub, or tree. (A in that art.) -A2- سَاقُ حُرٍّ [is said to signify] The male of the قَمَارِىّ [or species of collared turtle-doves of which the female is called قُمْرِيَّةٌ (see قُمْرِىٌّ)]; (S, Msb, K;) i. e. the وَرَشَان: (S, Msb:) the former appellation being given to it as imitative of its cry: (As, K:) it has neither fem. nor pl.: (AHát, TA:) or السَّاقُ is the pigeon; and الحُرُّ, its young one: (Sh, K:) the poet Ibn-Harmeh uses the phrase كَسَاقِ ٱبْنِ حُرٍّ. (O, TA.) [See more in art. حر.]