Saqiyah

A sāqiyah or saqiya (ساقية), also spelled sakia or saqia) is a mechanical water lifting device. It is also called a Persian wheel, tablia, rehat, and in Latin tympanum. It is similar in function to a scoop wheel, which uses buckets, jars, or scoops fastened either directly to a vertical wheel, or to an endless belt activated by such a wheel. The vertical wheel is itself attached by a drive shaft to a horizontal wheel, which is traditionally set in motion by animal power (oxen, donkeys, etc.) Because it is not using the power of flowing water, the sāqiyah is different from a noria and any other type of water wheel. The sāqiyah is still used in India, Egypt and other parts of the Middle East, and in the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. It may have been invented in Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, Iran, Kush or India. The sāqiyah was mainly used for irrigation, but not exclusively, as the example of Qusayr 'Amra shows, where it was used at least in part to provide water for a royal bathhouse. The Arabic word saqiya (ساقية) is derived from the root verb saqa (سقى), meaning to "give to drink" or "make (someone/something) drink". From this, the word saqiya (often transliterated as seguia in Morocco or the Maghreb) has the sense of "one that gives water" or "irrigator". Its general meaning is to denote a water channel for irrigation or for city water supplies, but by extension it applies to a device which provides water for such irrigation. Likewise, Spanish acequia, derived from the same word, is used to denote an irrigation canal or water channel in Spain. In the Maghreb and Morocco, the related word saqqaya (سقاية) also denotes a public fountain where residents could take water (similar in function to a sabil).. The term saqiyah or saqiya is the usual term for water-raising devices powered by animals. The term noria is commonly used for devices which use the power of moving water to turn the wheel instead. Other types of similar devices are grouped under the name of chain pumps.