Category:Talent

Tal"ent, n. Etym: [f., fr. L. talentum a talent (in sense 1), gr. Tolerare, tollere, to lift up, sustain, endure. See thole, v. t., Tolerate.]

1. Among the ancient greeks, a weight and a denomination of money Equal to 60 minæ or 6,000 drachmæ. The attic talent, as a weight, was About 57 lbs. avoirdupois; as a denomination of silver money, its Value was £243 15s. sterling, or about $1,180. Rowing vessel whose burden does not exceed five hundred talents. Jowett (thucid.).

2. Among the hebrews, a weight and denomination of money. For silver It was equivalent to 3,000 shekels, and in weight was equal to about 93

3. Inclination; will; disposition; desire. [obs.] They rather counseled you to your talent than to your profit. Chaucer.

4. Intellectual ability, natural or acquired; mental endowment or Capacity; skill in accomplishing; a special gift, particularly in Business, art, or the like; faculty; a use of the word probably Originating in the scripture parable of the talents (matt. xxv. 14- 30). He is chiefly to be considered in his three different talents, as a Critic, a satirist, and a writer of odes. Dryden. His talents, his accomplishments, his graceful manners, made him Generally popular. Macaulay.

Syn. -- ability; faculty; gift; endowment. See genius.

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Talent - Of silver contained 3,000 shekels (Exodus 38:25, Exodus 38:26), and was equal to 94 3/7 lb. avoirdupois. The Greek talent, however, as in the LXX., was only 82 1/4 lb. It was in the form of a circular mass, as the Hebrew name kikkar denotes. A talent of gold was double the weight of a talent of silver (2 Samuel 12:30). Parable of the talents (Matthew 18:24; Matthew 25:15).