"When We decreed [falamma qadayna]" – We sent down "upon him death, nothing indicated to them his death except a creature of the earth [dabbat al-ard]," which is the termite, according to the tafsir of Mujahid. "It gnawed away his staff [ta'kul minsa'atahu]" means: his rod.
Muhammad said: The root of the word is from your saying: "nasa'tu al-dabba" [I drove the beast]; when you drive it, so the rod is called a "minsa'a."
Some quoted [in poetry]:
[If you lean upon the staff out of old age... then amusement and the ghoul have departed from you]
There is another dialect: "ta'kulu minsa'atahu" [with a hamza].
﴿فَلَمَّا قضينا﴾ أنزلنَا ﴿عَلَيْهِ الْمَوْتَ مَا دَلَّهُمْ عَلَى مَوْتِهِ إِلا دَابَّةُ الأَرْضِ﴾ وَهِي الأرضةُ؛ فِي تَفْسِير مُجَاهِد ﴿تَأْكُل منسأته﴾ أَي: عَصَاهُ.
قَالَ محمدٌ: وأصل الْكَلِمَة من قَوْلك: نسأت الدَّابَّة؛ إِذا سُقْتَهَا، فَقيل للعصاة: مِنْسَأةٌ.
وَأنْشد بَعضهم:
(إِذا دببت عَلَى المنساة من كبر … فقد تبَاعد مِنْك اللَّهْو والغول)
وَفِيه لغةٌ أُخْرَى ﴿تَأْكُلُ مِنْسَأَتَهُ﴾ مَهْمُوزَة.
