سَاقٌ

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 feminine gender: (Msb, TA:) and for this reason, (TA,) the diminutive is ↓ سُوَيْقَةٌ: (Msb, TA:) the plural [of mult.] is سُوقٌ (S, Mgh, O, Msb, K) and سِيقَانٌ and [of pauc.] أَسْوءُقٌ, (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 Qur'an, 68:42, (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 article and in article حرب,) so that safety from destruction was difficult of attainment: (Id. in article 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, وَالْتَفَّتِ السَّاقُ بِالسَّاقِ, (K, TA,) in the Qur'an, 75:29, (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; synonym 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 article 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., apparently, 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 وَامْسَحُوا بِرُوءُسِكُمْ]. (TA.)

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.)

Also (tropical:) [The stem, stock, or trunk, i. e.] the part between the أَصْل [here meaning root, or foot, (though it is also synonym 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:) plural [of mult.] سُوقٌ (Msb, TA) and سُوقٌ and سُوُوقٌ and سُوءُوقٌ and [of pauc.] أَسْوُقٌ and أَسْوءُقٌ. (TA.) It is related in a tradition 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 حِرْبَاءُ 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. *)

[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.)

سَاقٌ also signifies (assumed tropical:) The soul, or self; synonym 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 article قدح:) [or] he deceived him, and did that which was displeasing to him: (L in that article:) 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 article)

-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 feminine nor plural: (AHát, TA:) or السَّاقُ is the pigeon; and الحُرُّ, its young one: (Sh, K:) the poet Ibn-Harmeh uses the phrase كَسَاقِ ابْنِ حُرٍّ. (O, TA.) [See more in article حر.]