WORD HOUND
by Jan Haber
How did ounce & pound get abbreviated oz. and lb.?
· OUNCE
The Medieval ancestor of the word ounce is the Italian onze, (abbreviated oz.) derived from a Latin word, uncia, meaning one-twelfth-which is also the source of our word inch. In the 15th century, there were 12 ounces to the pound-still are if you're a jeweler. To this day, gems and precious metals are sold by the Troy ounce, derived from Troyes, France, where the Troy weight system was in early use.· POUND
is abbreviated lb.-which stands for libra, the basic Roman unit of weight, symbolized by the balance scales. This is the same libra that turns up as the astrological sign Libra, named for the constellation. The Romans would have said libra pondo, the second word being the origin of our word pound.The 16 ounce pound (the one in common use today), didn't arrive on the scene until the 13th century. This system was called avoirdupois, French for "goods of weight."
Just when we thought we had a grip on pounds and ounces, we ran into grains, drams, ells, cubits, furlongs, leagues and gills, not to mention scores, bolts, reams, quires, stones, feet, fingers, hands, spans and paces.
A grain, the apothecary's measurement, was originally the weight of one grain of barley. A dram was equal to the weight of 60 grains of barley or 1/8 of an ounce. So if you're offered a dram of booze, don't expect to become seriously sloshed.
An ell is thought to represent the distance from the shoulder to the finger tip. If so, they must have been measuring giants in the British Isles. An English ell is 45," a Scots ell is 37.2" whereas a Flemish ell is only 27."
A related measure, the cubit, was said to be the distance from the elbow to the tip of the longest finger. It ranged from 18"to almost 22." At six cubits and a span, the Biblical Goliath would have measured anywhere from nine to over 11' without shoes.
A furlong was originally the distance an ox could pull a plow before he needed a rest-
(a furrow long) or it may have been 1/8 of a Roman mile. Or both. At present, a furlong is 220 yards, used to measure horse race tracks.A league may be equal to three miles but nobody is sure. It is limited to rhetorical and poetic use in English.
A gill (pronounced jill) is a liquid measure equal to a half cup. According to one authority, "a 'jack' was a 2-oz measure of wine, a 'jill' was twice the size of a 'jack.' When Charles I of England (1600-1649) reduced the size of the 'jack' so he could collect higher tax, the 'jill' was automatically reduced in size also
'... and Jill came tumbling after.'"
A score is 20 units.A bolt, a measurement for cloth, is equal to forty yards.
A ream of paper contains 500 sheets. Twenty-five sheets is called a quire.
A stone is equal to 14 pounds. If you're a 210 pound man, you can say you weigh 15 stone.
It's generally understood that a measurement of one foot equals the length of a man's foot -which could vary from place to place. The French Pied was equal to 12.8 English inches, the Spanish Pie was 10.96"
In the UK, a finger is equal to the bredth of a man's finger, or about three-fourths of an inch. Bertender-pour me two fingers of whisky.
A hand (its width) used to be three inches and is now 4" and seems to be used exclusively for describing the height of horses. The average horse stands 15 to 17 hh (hands high) at the withers (the highest point on its back); ponies measure under 14 hh.
A span is the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger, with the hand fully extended, averaging nine inches.
A pace is another variable measurement. It is commonly thought to be the distance of the average stride, or about 2 1/2 feet (30 inches).
This list only scratches the surface. A staggering variety of measurements can be found on the Internet. Some are obscure, some are in everyday use. Search measurements.
The Word Hound welcomes readers' questions & comments
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