ČŪB-ḴAṬṬ (or čūḵaṭṭ; var. čūb-qaṭṭ; Dehḵodā, s.v.; in Šūštar, Kāzerūn, and other parts of southern Persia kana; Nīrūmand, pp. 150, 382; Behrūzī, pp. 224-25, 486), a stick 20-30 cm long formerly used by neighborhood shopkeepers, especially butchers and bakers, to keep individual charge accounts. In Afghanistan it was also used to keep track of profits (Afḡānīnevīs, p. 194). It was in common use in both cities and villages until the early decades of this century, when illiteracy was still widespread. Individual customers made agreements with the shopkeeper that each time he made a certain quantity of purchases on credit the shopkeeper would make one cut on the čūḵaṭṭ, which was kept by the customer (not by the shopkeeper, as suggested by Jamālzāda, p. 92). At the end of the month the customer would pay for his purchases according to the number of cuts registered. With the rise of literacy in the 20th century the čūḵaṭṭ has become obsolete.
Čūb-ḵaṭṭ is also the designation for arrow-shaped wooden bookmarkers used, especially by children, to follow the lines when reading the Koran.
Bibliography:
ʿA. Afḡānīnevīs, Loḡāt-e ʿāmmīāna-ye fārsī-e Afḡānestān, Kabul, 1337 Š./1968.
ʿA.-N. Behrūzī, Vāžahā wa maṯalhā-ye šīrāzī wa kāzerūnī, Tehran, 1348 Š./1969.
M.-ʿA. Dāʿī-al-Eslām, Farhang-e neẓām, Hyderabad (Deccan), 1358/1939.
M.-ʿA. Eslāmī Nadūšan, Rūzhā “sargoḏašt,” Tehran, 1363 Š./1984, p. 28.
M.-ʿA. Jamālzāda, Farhang-e loḡāt-e ʿām(m)īāna, ed. M.-J. Maḥjūb, Tehran, 1348 Š./1969.
Moḥammad Pādšāh, Farhang-e Anand Rāj, ed. M. Dabīrsīāqī, II, Tehran, 1343 Š./1964, p. 1461.
M.-B. Nīrūmand, Vāža-nāma-ī az gūyeš-e Šūštarī, Tehran, 1355 Š./1976.
Ḡ.-Ḥ. Yūsofī, “Čūb-ḵaṭṭ,” Kelk 31, 1371 Š./1992, pp. 106-07.
(Ḡolām-Ḥosayn Yusofi)
Originally Published: December 15, 1993
Last Updated: November 2, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. VI, Fasc. 5, p. 449
