Norwegian units of measurement
Encyclopedia
As in the case of the Danes the Norwegians'
earliest standards of measure can be derived from their ship burial
s. The 60 feet (18.29 m) was built ca. 700 AD and differs from the Danish
boats less than it does from the Oseberg
, Gokstad
and Tune
ships which all date from ca. 800 AD. Thwarts are typically spaced about 3 feet apart.
In 1541, an alen in Denmark
and Norway
was defined by law to be the Sjælland alen. Subsequently, the alen was defined by law as 2 Rhine feet from 1683. From 1824, the basic unit was defined as a fot being derived from astronomy
as the length of a one second pendulum times 12/38 at a latitude
of 45°. The metric system
was introduced in 1887.
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
earliest standards of measure can be derived from their ship burial
Ship burial
A ship burial or boat grave is a burial in which a ship or boat is used either as a container for the dead and the grave goods, or as a part of the grave goods itself. If the ship is very small, it is called a boat grave...
s. The 60 feet (18.29 m) was built ca. 700 AD and differs from the Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
boats less than it does from the Oseberg
Oseberg ship
The Oseberg ship is a well-preserved Viking ship discovered in a large burial mound at the Oseberg farm near Tønsberg in Vestfold county, Norway.-Burial mound:...
, Gokstad
Gokstad ship
The Gokstad ship is a Viking ship found in a burial mound at Gokstad farm in Sandar, Sandefjord, Vestfold, Norway.-Discovery:The place where the boat was found, situated on arable land, had long been named Gokstadhaugen or Kongshaugen , although the relevance of its name had been discounted as...
and Tune
Tune ship
The Tune ship is a Viking era ship exhibited in the Viking Ship Museum in Bygdøy, Oslo.The "karv" type ship was found at Haugen farm on Rolvsøy in Tune, Østfold, Norway. The ship was built around AD 900, and is made of clinkered oak planks. It was found in a boat burial mound...
ships which all date from ca. 800 AD. Thwarts are typically spaced about 3 feet apart.
In 1541, an alen in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
was defined by law to be the Sjælland alen. Subsequently, the alen was defined by law as 2 Rhine feet from 1683. From 1824, the basic unit was defined as a fot being derived from astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
as the length of a one second pendulum times 12/38 at a latitude
Latitude
In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
of 45°. The metric system
Metric system
The metric system is an international decimalised system of measurement. France was first to adopt a metric system, in 1799, and a metric system is now the official system of measurement, used in almost every country in the world...
was introduced in 1887.
Length
- skrupel – scruple, 1/12 linje or approx. 0.18 mm.
- linje – line, 1/12 tomme or approx. 2.18 mm
- tomme – thumb (inch), 1/12 fot, approx. 26.1 mm. This unit was commonly used for measuring timber until the 1970s. Nowadays, the word refers invariably to the English inchInchAn inch is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, and United States customary units. There are 36 inches in a yard and 12 inches in a foot...
, 25.4 mm. - kvarter – quarter, 1/4 alen.
- fot – foot, 1/2 alen. From 1824, 313.74 mm.
- alen – forearm or ellEllAn ell , is a unit of measurement, approximating the length of a man's arm.Several national forms existed, with different lengths, includingthe Scottish ell ,the Flemish ell ,the French ell...
, 627.48 mm from 1824, 627.5 mm from 1683, 632.6 mm from 1541. Before that, local variants. - favn – fathomFathomA fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems, used especially for measuring the depth of water.There are 2 yards in an imperial or U.S. fathom...
(pl. favner), 3 alen, 1.882 mMM is the thirteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter M is derived from the Phoenician Mem, via the Greek Mu . Semitic Mem probably originally pictured water...
. - stang – rod, 5 alen or 3.1374 m
- lås – 15 favner, 28.2 m
- fjerdingsvei – quarter mile, alt. fjerding, 1/4 mil, i.e. 2.82 km.
- mil or landmil – Norwegian mile, spelled miil prior to 1862, 18,000 alen (36,000 feet, 7.018 miles or 11.295 km). Before 1683, a mil was defined as 17600 alen or 11.13 km. Another old land-mile, 11.824 km. The unit survives to this day, but in a metricMetric systemThe metric system is an international decimalised system of measurement. France was first to adopt a metric system, in 1799, and a metric system is now the official system of measurement, used in almost every country in the world...
10 km adaptation - rast –lit. "rest", the old name of the mil. A suitable distance between rests when walking. Believed to be approx. 9 km before 1541.
- Kaffekok, a similar term to rast used in the north by the indigenous Sami peopleSami peopleThe Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
. - steinkast – stone's throw, perhaps 25 favner, used to this day as a very approximate measure of a short distance.
Nautical
- favn – fathom (pl. favner), 3 alen, 1.88 m
- kabellengde – cable lengthCable lengthA cable length or cable's length is a nautical unit of measure equal to one tenth of a nautical mile or 100 fathoms, or sometimes 120 fathoms. The unit is named after the length of a ship's anchor cable in the age of sail...
, 100 favner, 188 m, or 1/10 international nautical mile, 185.2 m - kvartmil – quarter mile, 10 kabellengder, 1852 m. Kvartmil was a quarter of a Sjømil.
- sjømil – sea mile, now often (but wrongly) the international nautical mile, 1.852 km, but also used for other nautical miles and the geografisk mil. Sjømil was 3950 fathoms.
- geografisk mil – 7421 m or 4.007 nautical miles, defined as 1/15 Equatorial degree or 4 minutes of arc.
Area
- mål – 100 kvadrat rode, 984 m². The unit survives to this day, but in a 1000 m² adaptation, synonym for the metric decare (dekar in Norwegian).
- kvadrat rode – square stang, 9.84 m²
- tønneland – "barrel of land", 4 mål
Volume
- favn – 1 alen by 1 favn by 1 favn, 2.232 m³, used for measuring firewood to this day.
- skjeppe – 1/8 tønne, i.e. 17.4 lLŁ or ł, described in English as L with stroke, is a letter of the Polish, Kashubian, Sorbian, Łacinka , Łatynka , Wilamowicean, Navajo, Dene Suline, Inupiaq, Zuni, Hupa, and Dogrib alphabets, several proposed alphabets for the Venetian language, and the ISO 11940 romanization of the Thai alphabet...
. - tønne – barrel, 4.5 fot³, 138.9 lLŁ or ł, described in English as L with stroke, is a letter of the Polish, Kashubian, Sorbian, Łacinka , Łatynka , Wilamowicean, Navajo, Dene Suline, Inupiaq, Zuni, Hupa, and Dogrib alphabets, several proposed alphabets for the Venetian language, and the ISO 11940 romanization of the Thai alphabet...
.
Weight
- ort – 0.9735 g (1/512 pund)
- merke (pl. merker) – , 1/2 pund, 249.4 gGramThe gram is a metric system unit of mass....
, 218.7 g before 1683. - pund – Pound, alt. skålpund, 2 merker 0.4984 kg, was 0.46665 kg before 1683
- laup – used for butter, 17.93 kg (approx. 16.2 l). 1 laup is 36 pund or 4 spann or 72 merker.
- spann – Same as laup, for other commodities such as grain
- bismerpund – 12 pund, 5.981 kg
- vette – 28.8 mark or 6.2985 kg.
- våg – 1/8 skippund, 17.9424 kg.
- skippund – ship's pound, 159.488 kg. Was about 151 kg in 1270.
Monetary
- skilling – Shilling.
- ort – 24 skilling.
- riksdaler – Until 1813, Norwegian thalerThalerThe Thaler was a silver coin used throughout Europe for almost four hundred years. Its name lives on in various currencies as the dollar or tolar. Etymologically, "Thaler" is an abbreviation of "Joachimsthaler", a coin type from the city of Joachimsthal in Bohemia, where some of the first such...
. 1 riksdaler is 4 ort or 6 mark or 96 skilling. - speciedaler – Since 1816. 1 speciedaler is 5 ort or 120 skilling. From 1876, 1 speciedaler is 4 kroner (Norwegian crown, NOKNorwegian kroneThe krone is the currency of Norway and its dependent territories. The plural form is kroner . It is subdivided into 100 øre. The ISO 4217 code is NOK, although the common local abbreviation is kr. The name translates into English as "crown"...
).
Miscellaneous
- tylft – 12, also dusin
- snes – 20
- skokk – 60
- stort hundre – Large hundred, 120
- gross – 144