{"id":18040,"date":"2019-07-11T13:59:33","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T13:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/blog\/?p=18040"},"modified":"2019-07-11T13:59:33","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T13:59:33","slug":"scrupulous-scruples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=18040","title":{"rendered":"Scrupulous Scruples"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/blog\/scruple.gif\" style=\"float:right; margin:0 0 10px 15px;\" alt=\"Scruple\" width=\"208\" height=\"208\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A <strong>scruple<\/strong> can be a doubt, hesitation or unwillingness to do something due to uncertainity about what is right, or to show reluctance on grounds of conscience [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/scruple\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>When <strong>scruple<\/strong> first appeared in English in the 14th century [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/scruple\">source<\/a>], it referred to a unit equal to \u00b9\/\u2082\u2084 of an apothecaries ounce, \u215f288 of a pound, twenty grains, one third of a dram or 1.3 grams. As a liquid measure it was \u00b9\/\u2082\u2084 of a fluid ounce, \u2153 of a fluid dram, 20 minims, \u00bc of a teaspoon, or 1.23mm [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Scruple_(unit)\">source<\/a>]. It could also refer to a minute part or quantity of something.<\/p>\n<p>The symbol for a scruple is \u2108 (see top right), which was used by alchemists and apothecaries. Related symbols include \u2125 = apothecary ounce and \u2128 = dram or drachm [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/%E2%84%88\">source<\/a>]. More <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/writing\/alchemicalsymbols.htm\">alchemical symbols<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>By the 15th century a <strong>scruple<\/strong> was &#8220;an ethical consideration or principle that inhibits action&#8221; or a &#8220;mental reservation&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/scruple\">source<\/a>]<\/p>\n<p><strong>Scruple<\/strong> comes from the Old French <em>scruple<\/em> (scruple, compunction, qualm), from the Latin <em>scr\u016bpulus<\/em> (a small sharp or pointed stone; \u00b9\/\u2082\u2084 of an ounce; uneasiness of mind, anxiety, doubt, trouble; scruple), a diminutive of <em>scr\u016bpus<\/em> (a rough or sharp stone; anxiety, uneasiness).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A scruple can be a doubt, hesitation or unwillingness to do something due to uncertainity about what is right, or to show reluctance on grounds of conscience [source]. When scruple first appeared in English in the 14th century [source], it referred to a unit equal to \u00b9\/\u2082\u2084 of an apothecaries ounce, \u215f288 of a pound, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,107,111,10,15,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-etymology","category-french","category-language","category-latin","category-words-and-phrases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18040\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}