Editing Shekel (section)

==Name<span class="anchor" id="Etymology"></span>==
The word {{lang|he-Latn|shekel}} is based on the [[triliteral]] [[Proto-Semitic]] root {{smallcaps|ṯql}}, cognate to the [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] {{lang|akk-Latn|šiqlu}} or {{lang|akk-Latn|siqlu}}, a unit of weight equivalent to the [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] {{lang|sux-Latn|gin2}}.<ref name=Dilke1987>{{cite book|title=Mathematics and measurement|first=Oswald Ashton Wentworth|last=Dilke|year=1987|publisher=University of California Press|location=|page=46|isbn=9780520060722|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_AKJZvXOS7n4C}}</ref> Use of the word was first attested in {{circa|2150 BC}} under the reign of [[Naram-Sin of Akkad]], and later in {{circa|1700 BC}} in the [[Code of Hammurabi]]. The Hebrew reflex of the root {{smallcaps|šql}} is found in the Hebrew words for "to weigh" ({{lang|he-Latn|shaqal}}), "weight" ({{lang|he-Latn|mishqal}}) and "consideration" ({{lang|he-Latn|shiqqul}}). It is cognate to the [[Aramaic]] root {{smallcaps|tql}} and the [[Arabic]] root {{smallcaps|ṯql}} ([[:wikt:ث ق ل|ث ق ل]], in words such as {{lang|ar-Latn|thiqāl}} "weight", {{lang|ar-Latn|thāqil}} "heavy" or {{lang|ar-Latn|[[mithqal]]}}, a unit of weight). The famous [[Belshazzar's feast|writing on the wall]] in the [[Book of Daniel]] includes a cryptic use of the word in Aramaic: "{{lang|oar-Latn|Mene, mene, teqel, u-farsin}}".

Shekel came into the English language via the [[Hebrew Bible]], where it is first used in [[Chayei Sarah|Genesis 23]].

The term "shekel" has been used for a unit of weight, around 9.6 or 9.8 grams (0.31 or 0.32 ozt), used in [[Bronze Age Europe]] for balance weights and fragments of bronze that may have served as money.<ref name=Ialongo2021>{{cite journal|first1=Nicola|last1=Ialongo|first2=Giancarlo|last2=Lago|title=A small change revolution. Weight systems and the emergence of the first Pan-European money|journal=[[Journal of Archaeological Science]]|year=2021|volume=129|issue=|page=105379|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2021.105379|bibcode=2021JArSc.129j5379I|doi-access=free|hdl=11573/1547061|hdl-access=free}}</ref>