finger

Sranan Tongo: finga

PIE word
 *pénkʷe
From Middle English fynger, finger, from Old English finger (“finger”), from Proto-West Germanic *fingr, from Proto-Germanic *fingraz (“finger”), from Proto-Indo-European *penkʷrós, from *pénkʷe (“five”). Compare West Frisian finger, Low German/German Finger, Dutch vinger, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish finger; also Old Armenian հինգեր-որդ (hinger-ord, “fifth”). More at five.

sormi

something similar in function to a finger

a piece of steel three fingers thick

1648, John Wilkins, Mathematical Magick:

(units of measure) Various units of measure based or notionally based on the adult human finger, particularly

(historical) Synonym of digit: former units of measure notionally based on its width but variously standardized, (especially) the English digit of ¹⁄₁₆ foot (about 1.9 cm).

digit

(historical) A unit of length notionally based on the length of an adult human's middle finger, standardized as 4½ inches (11.43 cm).

(historical) Synonym of digit: ¹⁄₁₂ the observed diameter of the sun or moon, (especially) with regard to eclipses.

digit

Gimme three fingers of bourbon.

(originally US) An informal measure of alcohol based on its height in a given glass compared to the width of the pourer's fingers while holding it.


bath

barf (non-rhotic, trap–bath split, th-fronting)

Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of an homer, and the ephah the tenth part of an homer: the measure thereof shall be after the homer.

(historical units of measure) A former Hebrew unit of liquid volume (about 23 L or 6 gallons).


cor

Borrowed from Biblical Hebrew כֹּר (kōr).

bor+

(historical units of measure) Various former units of volume, particularly:

A Hebrew unit of liquid volume, about equal to 230 L or 60 gallons.

Synonym of homer: approximately the same volume as a dry measure.

homer

A roughly equivalent Phoenician unit of volume.


batman

Batman (unit)
Edward Ardizzone
Imperial War Museum

From Ottoman Turkish بطمان (batman). Cognate with Chagatai [script needed] (bātmān).

Euery bateman [in Bagdad] maketh 7. pound and 5. ounces English waight.

1583 July 20, J. Newbery, letter in Richard Hakluyt's The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, p. 209

A Batman is fiue and fiftie pound weight English.

1614, Samuel Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimage, page 544:

Their weights [in Khiva] are the great batman equal to 18 lb. russian, and the lesser batman 9¼.

1753, G. Thompson & al. in Jonas Hanway's Historical Account of the British Trade over the Caspian Sea, Vol. I, p. 351

At Smyrna, the cantaro, or kintal, contains 45 okes, or 100 rottoli. The batman is 6 okes, or 2400 drachms; and the oke is 400 drachms, and the rottolo = 180 drachms. The cantaro of 45 okes weighs 123 lbs. 4 oz. avoirdupois; and, therefore, the oke is = 2 lbs. 11 oz. 13 drs. avoirdupois.

1819, Abraham Rees, The Cyclopaedia, Vol. XXX, s.v. "Rottolo"

6107. Turkish Weights. The Turkish Chequi is 11⅓ ounces avoirdupois...
1 Batman = 6 Okas
1 Oka = 4 Chequi

1900, William B. Dick, Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes, page 530:

(historical units of measure) A Turkish unit of weight varying by location, time, and item from 2–8 okas (about 2.5–10 kg).


log

...and one log of oil...

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 14:10:

In the Hebrew system the log (Lev. xiv. 10) corresponds to the mina. Since the Hellenistic writers equate the log with the Græco-Roman sextarius, whatever these writers say on the relation of the sextarius to other measures applies also to the relation of these measures to the log. The log and the sextarius, however, are not equal in capacity. The sextarius is estimated at .547 liter, while there is no reason to regard the log as larger than the Babylonian mina, especially as other references of the Greek metrologists support the assumption that the log was equal to the mina. The fact that in the Old Testament the log is mentioned only as a fluid measure may be merely accidental, for the dry measures, which are distinguished in all other cases from the liquid measures, also have the log as their unit. The corresponding dry measure may, however, have been known under a different name.

1902, Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. "Weights and Measures"

(historical units of measure) A Hebrew unit of liquid volume (about ¹⁄₃ liter).


cab

[…] in the famine of Samaria […] the fourth part of a cab of pigeon's dung was sold for five pieces of silver […]

1646, Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, III.3:

(historical units of measure) A former Hebrew unit of volume, about equal to 1.3 L as a dry measure or 1.25 L as a liquid measure.


omer

From Biblical Hebrew עומר / עֹמֶר ('ómer, “sheaf”).

...that Omer which was every mans daily portion of Manna, is computed to have bin more then might have well suffic'd the heartiest feeder thrice as many meals.

And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

(historical units of measure) A former small Hebrew unit of dry volume equal to about 2.3 L or 2.1 quarts.


core

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

(historical units of measure) Alternative form of cor: a former Hebrew and Phoenician unit of volume.


rattle

From Arabic رَطْل (raṭl), variant of classical رِطْل (riṭl), ultimately from Ancient Greek λίτρα (lítra). Doublet of liter.

(historical units of measure) Alternative form of rottol: a former Middle Eastern and North African unit of dry weight usually equal to 1–5 lb (0.5–2.5 kg).


homer

From Hebrew חומר / חֹמֶר (khómer, “clay, heap, large unit of volume”).

he-m

The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of an homer, and the ephah the tenth part of an homer: the measure thereof shall be after the homer.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 45:11:

Head up! For every newbegotten thou shalt gather thy homer of ripe wheat.

(historical units of measure) A former Hebrew unit of dry volume, about equal to 230 L or 6+¹⁄₂ US bushels.

(historical units of measure) Synonym of cor: approximately the same volume as a liquid measure.


hin

From Middle English hin, from Latin hin, from Hebrew הִין, from Egyptian h:n-nw-w-W22 (hnw, “jar, unit of liquid volume”).

der

Biblical and Talmudic units of measurement

500 shekels of cassia — all according to the sanctuary shekel — and a hin of olive oil.

1973, Bible (New International Version), Exodus 30:24

(historical units of measure) A former Hebrew liquid measure of volume (about 3.8 L).

The hin for liquids was subdivided dimidially down to ¹⁄₃₂ = 1 ro.

1997, Helaine Selin, Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Westen Cultures:

(historical units of measure) An Ancient Egyptian liquid measure of volume (about 0.48 L).


kor

Solomon responded by committing 20,000 kors of pure oil and 20,000 kors of wheat in annual payments. A kor of oil is an ancient Hebrew unit of liquid of about 58 gallons. A kor of wheat is equal to 6.25 bushels.

2002, Don Victor Bovey, In Touch With Eternity, page 161:


stade

From Spanish estado, from Latin status (“standing”), in reference to it being roughly the height of a grown man. Doublet of estate, state, status, and estado.

doublet

(units of measure, obsolete) Synonym of estadio: a traditional Spanish unit of measure equivalent to about 1.67 m.


plethron

(historical units of measure) A former Greek unit of length equal to 100 Greek feet (podes).


juger

Borrowed from Latin iūger, variant of iūgerum.

(historical units of measure) A Roman unit of area, equivalent to 2 acti or 28,800 square feet (about ¼ ha).


actus

From Latin āctus (“a cattle drive; a cattle path; units of length and area”). Doublet of act.

der

(historical units of measure) A former Roman unit of length, equal to 120 Roman feet (about 35.5 m)

(historical units of measure) A former Roman unit of area, equivalent to a square with sides of 1 actus (about 0.125 ha)


epha

(historical units of measure) Alternative spelling of ephah


ephah

From Hebrew אֵיפָה (eifá), from Egyptian jpt (“oipe, a dry measure of volume about 19.2 liters”). Doublet of oipe.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 45:10–11:

(historical units of measure) A former Hebrew unit of dry volume (about 23 L).


rotolo

From Italian rotolo (“roll; rottol”). As a roll, from Late Latin rotulus (“little wheel”), from Latin rota (“wheel, rolling thing”) + -ulus (“-ule”, forming diminutives). As a unit of weight, from Arabic رُطْل (ruṭl), variant of classical رِطْل (riṭl), ultimately from Ancient Greek λίτρα (lítra).

(historical units of measure) Alternative form of rottol: a former Middle Eastern and North African unit of dry weight, usually between 1–5 pounds (.5–2.5 kg).


temporal hour

(units of measure) A unit of time reckoned as ¹⁄₁₂ of a day's daylight or nighttime, varying according to season, latitude, and local weather.


kab

(historical units of measure) Alternative form of cab: a former Hebrew unit of volume.


jugerum

(historical units of measure) Alternative form of juger: a Roman unit of area.


gomer

From Latin gomor in the Vulgate, from Ancient Greek γομόρ (gomór) in the Septuagint, from Hebrew עומר ('ómer, “sheaf; unit of dry measure”).

On the morrow, the 16th, after having offered to God the homer, they began eating the corn of the country; and the 17th the manna ceased to fall from heaven. What supports this calculation is, that the gomer, or sheaf, was offered the 16th of Nisan, in broad day-light, though pretty late.

1801, Thomas Coke, A Commentary on the Holy Bible, page 20:

(historical units of measure, archaic) Alternative form of omer: a former Hebrew unit of dry volume equal to about 2.3 L or 2.1 quarts.


rotl

From Arabic رُطْل (ruṭl), variant of classical رِطْل (riṭl), ultimately from Ancient Greek λίτρα (lítra).

Dram (49·5 grains), 100=chequi, 4=oka (2·8286 ℔); dram (49·5 grains), 180=rotl, 100=kintal or kantar (127·29 ℔).

1888, W.M.F. Petrie, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. XXIV, s.v. "Weights and Measures"

(historical units of measure) Alternative form of rottol: a former Middle Eastern and North African unit of weight, usually 1–5 pounds (0.5–2.5 kg).


rotal

(historical units of measure, obsolete) Alternative form of rottol: a former Middle Eastern and North African unit of dry weight variously equal to 1–5 lbs. (.5–2.5 kg.).


fotmal

From Middle English fotmal, from Old English fōtmǣl (“step by step”, literally “foot-measure”), equivalent to foot + -meal. Doublet of footmeal.

(obsolete, units of measure) An old English unit of weight of 70 pounds, used particularly for lead

1⁄70 fotmal & for smaller subdivisions

Tower pound, troy pound, avoirdupois pound


seah

uder

Hebrew סְאִים֙

(historical units of measure) A former Hebrew unit of dry volume, about 7.7 L or 7 quarts.


footmeal

From Middle English footmele, fotmelen, from Old English fōtmǣlum (“step by step, by degrees”), dative plural of Old English fōtmǣl (“a foot-measure, one foot”), equivalent to foot + -meal.


picul

From Malay pikul, with influence from earlier Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese pico.

Powder sugar of China, the hundred cattees or peecull worth fortie to fiftie.

c. 1605, John Saris, quoted in Anthony Farrington's The English Factory in Japan (1991), p. 56

The coal is sold for 130 cash... per picul of 133 pounds.

1888, Archibald John Little, Through the Yang-tse Gorges, page 279:

(units of measure) A traditional South and East Asian unit of weight, based upon the load of a shoulder pole and varying by place and over time but usually standardized at about 60 kg.


digit

From Middle English digit, from Latin digitus (“a fingerbreadth; a number”). Doublet of digitus and toe .

bit

position in a sequence of numerals, symbol in a positional number system

A six-digit eclipse covers half the lunar surface.

(units of measure, astronomy) ¹⁄₁₂ the apparent diameter of the sun or moon, (chiefly) as a measure of the totality of an eclipse.

(historical units of measure) A unit of length notionally based upon the width of an adult human finger, standardized differently in various places and times, (especially) the English digit of ¹⁄₁₆ foot, now equivalent to about 1.9 cm.

(units of measure, obsolete) Synonym of inch.


international mile

en-noun

international mile (plural international miles)

From its origin as a compromise value at the 1959 conference among the Anglophone nations to establish a unified value for the yard and pound.

(units of measure) The present formal value of the mile as precisely equal to 1.609344 kilometers, as opposed to other historic or informal values.


Italian mile

From Calque of Italian miglio (“(Italian) mile”), with a qualifier to distinguish it from other miles.

calque

(units of measure) Various traditional Italian units of length, particularly the Genovese and Roman miles


chomer

(historical units of measure) Alternative form of homer: a former Hebrew unit of volume.


rottolo

Variant of Italian rotolo, from Arabic رُطْل (ruṭl), variant of classical رِطْل (riṭl), from Ancient Greek λίτρα (lítra).

ROTTOLO, in Commerce, a weight used in Italy and the Levant. At Aleppo, and its port Scanderoon, the cantaro contains 100 rottoli, each of which is subdivided into 12 ounces, or 720 drachms; the great cantaro of Tripoli contains 175 rottoli, and the zurlo consists of 27½ rottoli. This rottolo, with which most sorts of goods are weighed, weighs 5 lbs. avoirdupois nearly. The rottolo with which the silks from Tripoli, and other parts of Syria, are weighed, consists of 700 drachms, answering to 4⅞ avoirdupois. The rottolo used in weighing the Persian silks contains 680 drachms, or nearly 4¾ lbs. avoirdupois. The rottolo of Damascus, with which brass, camphor, benzoin, spikenard, balsam of Mecca, and other drugs are weighed, contains 600 drachms, or 4¹⁄₅ lbs. avoirdupois. Five rottoli, or 3600 drachms, make what is called a vesno... At Saide, in Syria, (the ancient Sidon,) silk and sattin yarn are weighed with the rottolo of Damascus, of 600 drachms; 100 such rottoli answering to about 410 lbs. avoirdupois. Heavy goods are weighed with the rottolo of Acre, 100 of which are = 482 lbs. avoirdupois. At Constantinople, the cantaro, or quintal, contains 44 okes, or 100 rottoli; and the cantaro weighs about 123¾ lbs. avoirdupois, the oke 2lbs. 13 oz., and the rottolo 19⁴⁄₅ oz., and the chequee 11¼ oz. avoirdupois. At Leghorn, the rottolo is 3 lbs. At Naples, the cantaro grosso contains 100 rottoli, each weighing 33⅓ ounces of the gold and silver weight, or 31³⁄₇ ounces avoirdupois. Hence 28 rottoli = 55 lbs. avoirdupois, and the cantaro grosso = 196½ lbs. avoirdupois. The cantaro picolo is = 106 lbs. avoirdupois nearly. In Sicily these different weights are used, viz. the rottolo grosso of 33 ounces, the rottolo sotile of 30 ounces, and the libra, or pound of 12 ounces. 10 lbs. of Sicily = 7 lbs. avoirdupois nearly; and, therefore, 40 rottoli grossi, or 44 rottoli sotile = 77 lbs. avoirdupois. A cantaro grosso contains 100 rottoli grossi, or 192½ lbs. avoirdupois; a cantaro sotile is 100 rottoli sottili, and is = 175 lbs. avoirdupois. At Smyrna, the cantaro, or kintal, contains 45 okes, or 100 rottoli. The batman is 6 okes, or 2400 drachms; and the oke is 400 drachms, and the rottolo = 180 drachms. The cantaro of 45 okes weighs 123 lbs. 4 oz. avoirdupois; and, therefore, the oke is = 2 lbs. 11 oz. 13 drs. avoirdupois. At Tripoli, the cantaro weight contains 100 rottoli, each of 6 ounces, or 128 termini; this cantaro answers to 168 lbs. peso sotile of Venice, or about 12 lbs. avoirdupois. At Tunis, the cantaro contains 100 rottoli, each of 16 Tunis ounces, and weighs about 111 lbs. avoirdupois...

1819, Abraham Rees, The Cyclopaedia, Vol. XXX, p. 614


rottol

From Arabic رُطْل (ruṭl), variant of classical رِطْل (riṭl) and vernacular رَطْل (raṭl), under the influence of French rotte and Italian rotolo, ultimately from Ancient Greek λίτρα (lítra). Doublet of liter.

Michael Howell's troubles begin with an unauthorised laboratory order for ten rottols of absolute alcohol. One rottol equals two okes, one oke weighs just over a quarter of a kilo, and if you're dealing in such antediluvian weights and measures one must be in the notoriously unstable enclave of Middle Eastern states formerly known as the Levant.

2005 December 16, Alfred Hickling, “Pure Thrills”, in The Guardian, page 19:

(historical units of measure) A former Middle Eastern and North African unit of dry weight, usually between 1–5 pounds (0.5–2.5 kg).


okka

(historical units of measure) Alternative form of oka.


lethech

uder

Hebrew לֶ֫תֶך

(historical units of measure) Alternative form of lethek: a former Hebrew unit of dry volume.


lethek

Hebrew לֶ֫תֶך

(historical units of measure) A former Hebrew measure of dry volume, equal to about 115 L or 3¼ bushels.


issaron

From Hebrew עשרון ('isarón, “tenth”), from its value as ¹⁄₁₀ of an ephah.

(historical units of measure) Synonym of omer: a Hebrew unit of dry volume equal to about 2.3 L or 2.1 quarts.


heqat

(historical units of measure) An Ancient Egyptian dry measure of volume equivalent to 10 hins (or about 4.8 litres).


covid

In weights and measures one hundred catties were equivalent to one picul, or 133½ English pounds; in cloth or long measure ten “poontas” to one covid, and two covids to thirty-six inches English.

1908, William Babcock Weeden, Early Oriental Commerce in Providence:

But the usual dimensions of a piece of muslin were 40 x 2 covids, the lower and the upper bounds being 36 x 1 and 48 x 3 covids, respectively.

2014, Om Prakash, The Dutch East India Company and the Economy of Bengal, 1630-1720:

A measure of length, the Chinese cubit, by Europeans called covid.

1815, A dictionary of the Chinese language, in three parts:

From east to west it was nine covids, and from south to north seven yen, (63 covids).

1852, Li Zhou, translated by William Raymond Gingell, The Ceremonial Usages of the Chinese, B. C. 1121, page 4:


covit

(archaic, units of measure) Alternative form of covid


rottle

(historical units of measure) Alternative form of rottol