In ancient times, a person served as a measure of weight and length; weight - how much he can lift on the shoulders, length - how far the arm stretches.
Old measures of length were represented by a system that included such concepts as milestone, sazhen, arshin, span, elbow and inches.
So, consider the basic terms. Arshin - a measure of length, which is equal to 0.7112 m (in the modern dimension). It was customary to take the gauge ruler, on which the divisions were made in the vertices.
Antique length measures have different versions.its origin. The first interpretation of arshin is the length of a human step during walking on a flat terrain at an average pace (about seventy centimeters). The same definition was taken as a baseline for terms such as verst and sazhen. Even when examining the structure of the word "arshin" we can see that its root "ar" from the Old Russian language means "surface of the earth" or "earth", which confirms the opinion of linguists that ancient Russian measures of length were used in determining the distance traveled by foot.
There was another name for this measure - “step”, i.e. the account was carried out by steps of an adult (“small fathoms” or “state fathoms”).
Old Russian traveling measure of length - mile,denoting the distance that has been traveled from one turn of the plow to the other in the process of plowing. In parallel with the synonym "career", these two concepts were used for a long time as ancient measures of length. During the reign of Peter the Great, one mile was equal to 500 fathoms (1066.8 m in modern terms). In 1649, the “boundary milestone” was adopted, equal to a thousand fathoms. Somewhat later (XVIII century) began to be used and such a thing as a traveling mile (five hundred mile).
В качестве мелких мер длины на Руси в качестве The base value was used "span", which since the XVII century was considered the "quarter of arshin". From here, such ancient measures of length appeared as two inches (half an inch) and vershoks (a quarter-inch).
One of the most common measures of length onRuss was a "sazhen", which has certain differences both in purpose and in size. There were up to ten such differences. For example, "flywheel" was the distance between the ends of the widely spaced fingers of an adult male. And the term "oblique sazhen" is determined by the distance from the toe of the left leg to the middle finger of the right hand, raised up.
There is also such a definition of length inancient Russia, as the "elbow", which was equal to the length of the hand from the fingertips to the elbow. Its value, according to various sources, ranges from 38 to 47 cm. However, since the 16th century, this term has been supplanted by the term “arshin”.
Old measures of weight in Russia were represented by the following terms:
- proportion (0.044 g);
- spool (4.27 g);
- pound (hryvnia), equal to 96 spools (0.41 kg);
- pound, equivalent to 40 pounds (16.38 kg).
The fraction was the smallest old Russian mass measurement unit and was equal to 1/96 of the spool. The spool, in turn, was equal to 1/96 pound and denoted a gold coin.
The pound was the designation and measure of weight, as well asmonetary unit. This term is often used to determine the weight in retail. It was used to weigh precious metals (silver and gold).
A pound was equal to forty pounds.
There was also such a measure of weight, as“Berkovets”, which is actively used in the wholesale trade for weighing large volumes of goods (for example, wax or honey). In Russia, under this term was adopted a weight of ten pounds, which was equal to the mass of a barrel with wax, rolled by one person on a merchant's boat. The first mention of Berkovtse was met in sources dating back to the 12th century (statutory charter for Novgorod merchants from Prince Vsevolod Gavriil Mstislavovich).
