TALENT

This was a weight used among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans, but varying exceedingly in different countries and in different parts of the same country. The Jewish talent is usually estimated at about 125 pounds troy weight, though others estimate it a little less then 114 pounds troy. The common Attic talent was equal, on the usual estimate, to about 56 lbs. 11 oz. troy. In the New Testament, a talent is a denomination of money, which was anciently reckoned by weight. The value of the talent, therefore, varied in different countries, in proportion to the different weights of the talent. The Jewish talent appear, from Ex 38:25,26, to have been equal to 3,000 shekels; and as the shekel is estimated at about fifty cents, the value of the talent would be about 1,5000 dollars. The Attic talent is usually reckoned at about 225 pounds sterling, or 1,000 dollars, though others make it only about 860 dollars. The talent spoken of in the New Testament is probably the Jewish, and is used only of an indefinitely large sum, Mt 18:24; 25:14-30.

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Talent. Talent
Of silver contained 3,000 shekels (Ex. 38:25, 26), and was equal to 94 3/7 lbs. avoirdupois. The Greek talent, however, as in the LXX., was only 82 1/4 lbs. 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 Sam. 12:30). Parable of the talents (Matt. 18:24; 25:15).

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TALENT. → General scriptures concerning 1Ki 9:14,28; 10:10,14 → (A weight equal to three-thousand shekels-about one hundred twenty-five pounds) Ex 38:25,26 → Value of
* Of gold, about six-thousand pounds, or twenty-nine thousand one-hundred dollars
* Of silver, four-hundred pounds, or one-thousand nine-hundred forty dollars
* Parables of the Mt 18:24; 25:15,28

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talent. Talent, n. a certain weight or sum, gift, faculty

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Tal″ent (tăl″ent), n. [[F., fr. L. talentum a talent (in sense 1), Gr. ταλαντον a balance, anything weighed, a definite weight, a talent; akin to τλη̑ναι to bear, endure, τολμα̑ν, L. tolerare, tollere, to lift up, sustain, endure. See Thole, v. t., Tolerate.]] 1. 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. 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� lbs. avoirdupois; as a denomination of silver, it has been variously estimated at from £340 to £396 sterling, or about $1,645 to $1,916. For gold it was equal to 10,000 gold shekels.
3. 3. Inclination; will; disposition; desire.
They rather counseled you to your talent than to your profit. Chaucer. 4. 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.