Obsolete Russian units of measurement
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A native system of weights and measures was used in Imperial Russia and after the Russian Revolution, but it was abandoned in 1924 when the Soviet Union adopted the metric system.
The Tatar system is very similar to the Russian one, but some names are different.
The system existed since ancient Rus', but under Peter the Great, the Russian units were redefined relative to the English system. Until Peter the Great the system also used Cyrillic numerals, and only in the 18th century Peter the Great replaced it with the Hindu-Arabic numeral system.
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[edit] Length
The basic unit is the Russian cubit, called arshin, measuring exactly twenty-eight English inches, as standardised by Peter the Great. Thus, 80 vershoks = 20 piads = 5 arshins = 140 English inches.[1]
A piad (пядь, “palm”, “five”) or chetvert (че́тверть, “quarter”) is a hand span, the distance between ends of the spread thumb and index finger.
| Unit | Cyrillic | Translation | Ratio | Metric Value |
English units |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tochka | то́чка | point | 1/2800 | 0.254 mm | 1/100 inch |
| liniya | ли́ния | line | 1/280 | 2.54 mm | 1/10 inch; cf. line |
| diuym | дюйм | inch | 1/28 | 2.54 cm | 1 inch |
| vershok | вершо́к | “tip” or “top” | 1/16 | 4.445 cm | 1 ¾ in; cf. rack unit |
| piad, chetvert | пядь, че́тверть | “palm”, quarter | 1/4 | 17.78 cm | 7 in; cf. span |
| fut | фут | foot | 3/7 | 30.48 cm | 1 ft |
| arshin | арши́н | 1 | 71.12 cm | 2 ⅓ ft | |
| sazhen | са́жень | fathom | 3 | 2.1336 m | 7 ft |
| versta | верста́ | 1500 | 1.0668 km | 3,500 ft | |
| milia | ми́ля | mile | 10,500 | 7.4676 km | 24,500 ft |
Alternative units:
- Swung sazhen (махова́я са́жень, mahovaya sazhen) = 1.76 m
- Skewed, or oblique sazhen (коса́́я са́́жень, kosaya sazhen’) = 2.48 m
- Double versta or border versta, (межева́я верста́, mezhevaya versta), used to measure land plots and distances between settlements
The vershok is coincidently equivalent to the modern day "rack unit" used in describing the height of standardized rack-mounted devices such as those used in the broadcasting, computing, entertainment and telecommunications industries.
[edit] Area
- Desiatina (десяти́на, “a tenth” or “ten”)
- Treasury/official desiatina (казённая десяти́на, kazionnaya desiatina) = 10,925.4 m² = 117,600 ft² = 2,400 square sazhen
- Proprietor's (владе́льческая десяти́на, vladelcheskaya desiatina) = 14,5672 m² = 156,800 ft² = 3,200 square sazhen
- 3 proprietor's desiatinas = 4 official desiatinas
[edit] Volume
As in many ancient systems of measurement the Russian distinguishes between dry and liquid measurements of capacity. Note that the chetvert appears in both lists with vastly differing values.
[edit] Dry measures
| Unit | Cyrillic | Translation | Ratio | Metric value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| chast | часть | part | 1/30 | 109.33 cm3 |
| kruzhka | кру́жка | mug | 2/5 | 1.312 litre |
| garnets[1] | га́рнец | pot | 1 | 3.279842 litres |
| vedro | ведро́ | bucket | 4 | 13.12 litres |
| chetverik | четвери́к | quarter | 8 | 26.239 litres |
| osmina | осьми́на | one-eighth | 32 | 104.955 litres |
| chetvert | че́тверть | quarter | 64 | 209.91 litres |
[edit] Liquid measures
| Unit | Cyrillic | Translation | Ratio | Metric value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| shkalik, kosushka | шка́лик, косу́шка | measure, shot | 1/200 | 61.5 mL |
| charka | ча́рка | a wine glass | 1/100 | 123 mL |
| butylka (vodochnaya) | буты́лка (во́дочная) | bottle (vodka) | 1/20 | 615 mL |
| butylka (vinnaya) | буты́лка (ви́нная) | bottle (wine) | 1/16 | 768.7 mL |
| kruzhka | кру́жка | mug | 1/10 | 1.23 L |
| chetvert | че́тверть | quarter | 1/8 | 1.537 L |
| vedro[1] | ведро́ | bucket | 1 | 12.29941 L |
| bochka | бо́чка | barrel | 40 | 491.98 L |
[edit] Weight/Mass
| Unit | Cyrillic | Translation | Ratio | Metric value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| dolia | до́ля | part | 1/9216=1/962 | 44.435 mg |
| zolotnik | золотни́к | “golden one” | 1/96 | 4.26580 g |
| lot | лот | 1/32 | 12.7974 g | |
| funt[1] | фунт | pound | 1 | 409.51718 g |
| pood | пуд, pud | 40 | 16.3807 kg | |
| berkovets | берковец | 400 | 163.807 kg |
The pood was used in Russia, Finland, Belarus and Ukraine. Pood was first mentioned in a number of documents of the twelfth century. It may still be encountered in documents dealing with agricultural production (especially with reference to cereals), and has been revived in determining weights when casting bells in belfries following the rebirth of the Orthodox Churches in the former Soviet lands.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Cardarelli, F. (2004). Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measures: Their SI Equivalences and Origins (2nd ed.). Springer. pp. 121-124. ISBN 1-8523-3682-X. http://books.google.com/books?id=6KCx8Ww75VkC.
[edit] External links
- http://www.lajzar.co.uk/unit/system/new-ru.html Traditional Russian measures (dead link)
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