Lengths. In the 16th-17th centuries. divided into 4 quarters and was equal to 72 cm. /27 English. inches/. In the 18th-20th centuries. 1A = 28 inches = 16 vershok = 71.120 cm. = 0.7112 m.

Dictionary of measures. 2000.

See what "Arshin" is in other dictionaries:

Male, Tatar. linear measure, four quarters (spans), four vershoks (top of a finger); third fathom; the length of the entire arm from the shoulder; free step of a person; 21/3 Russian or English feet; 0.711 meters. | The very rod, stick, braid is exactly this measure... ... Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

With a hat. 1. Simple. Joking. or Neglect About a short man. BMS 1998, 32; SRNG 1, 282; SRNG 28, 95; F 1, 15; SPP 2001, 15; FSS, 8; Podyukov 1989, 10; YaOS 1, 23; 2. Sib. A minor teenager. FSS, 8. See a yard underground (under... ... Large dictionary of Russian sayings

- (Turkish Tatars archoun). A unit of linear measure in Russia is divided into 16 vershoks. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. ARSHIN tour tat. archoun. Unit of linear measure in Russia. Explanation of 25,000 foreign... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

ARSHIN, arshin, husband. (from Pers. elbow). 1. Russian measure of length, equal to 0.711 meters, used before the introduction of the metric system. 2. A ruler one arshin long with divisions marked on it, used for measurement. Wooden arshin. Folding... ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

It’s like swallowing an arshin.. Dictionary of Russian synonyms and expressions similar in meaning. under. ed. N. Abramova, M.: Russian dictionaries, 1999. arshin noun, number of synonyms: 1 measure (250) ... Dictionary of synonyms

ARSHIN, b. pl. in and ov, husband 1. (gen. pl. in). An old Russian measure of length equal to 0.71 m. Five arshins of calico. 2. (genus plural). A ruler, a bar of this length for measuring. Five wooden arshins. Measure on your own. (translated: to judge something n.... ... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

- (Turkic) measure of length in a number of countries, in Russia since the 16th century, is equal to 16 vershok (71.12 cm) ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- – old Russian measure of length. = 0.71 m EdwART. Dictionary of automotive jargon, 2009 ... Automobile dictionary

arshin- ARSHIN, a, m. 1. Tall man. 2. A glass or any other container from which you can drink alcohol. Poss. originally from ofen. or uh... Dictionary of Russian argot

Arshin- – old Russian measure of length. In the 16th and 17th centuries. divided into 4 quarters and was equal to 72 cm. /27 English. inches/. In the 18th and 20th centuries. 1A = 28 inches = 16 inches = 71.120 cm. = 0.7112 m. [Dictionary of measures. 2000] Term heading: General terms Encyclopedia headings... Encyclopedia of terms, definitions and explanations of building materials

This term has other meanings, see Arshin (meanings). Arshin: Old Russian unit of measurement of length. 1 arshin = 1/3 fathom = 4 quarters = 16 vershok = 28 inches = 0.7112 m; an outdated tool for measuring length. “The very rod,... ... Wikipedia

Books

• Arshin - the thief of dreams. Adventures, Evgeniy Sasim. Do you like to sleep? Even if you answer no, then you probably like to dream. Flying on a dragon, fighting in a knight's tournament - where else can you do this if not in a dream? Exactly… e-book
• Traumatology. Directory, A.F. Krasnov, V.M. Arshin, V.V. Arshin. The reference book presents general issues of traumatology: organization of trauma care, examination of work capacity, pain relief for injuries, features of injuries in children and...

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Old Russian measures of length, weight, volume

In children's fairy tales and not only we often come across measures of length and weight that have long since fallen out of use. How can we figure out what corresponds to, for example, a verst or a fathom. And if this is, for example, an oblique fathom or a Kolomna verst, then in what difference? We will try to give answers to these and many other questions and convert ancient measures of length, weight and volume into more familiar units of measurement.
Since ancient times, people needed to know how to describe size, height, distance. At the same time, such measurements had to be understandable (standard) for everyone. To calculate the necessary parameters, it was convenient to use measures that would always be at hand.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the first measures of length were correlated with anthropological parameters of a person.

First let's talk about length measures. For the convenience of measuring length, the following constant values ​​were adopted. Verst, fathom, arshin, elbow, span and vershok.

Length measures

The meaning of the word "Arshin" lies in its root. "Ar" - in ancient Rus' meant earth or furrow. And to measure the distance traveled it was convenient to use a step. It was decided to use its length as a measure of length. Therefore, along with “arshin” you can often find “step”. Their length was 0.7112 meters. The well-known saying “Don’t measure everyone with one yardstick” should be attributed to the merchants who used a special one - the “government yardstick”. Tyutchev’s lines should be attributed to the same method of measurement: “Russia cannot be understood with the mind, but cannot be measured with a common (official) arshin.” The unit of measurement was the top. It was a wooden ruler, on which the state seal was necessarily stamped. In the absence of such a measuring device, people used the “elbow” or “palp” (carpus or hand).
To measure short lengths, smaller values ​​were used. The most common of which was “span”. It was equal to one-quarter of an arshin, so it was also called a “quarter” or “chet.” The span in Rus' has been used since the 17th century and was divided into three types.

1. “Small span (quarter arshin)” - the length between the ends of the spread thumb and index fingers. Other names are pyadyka, pyady, pyaden, pyadyka = 4 vershkas = 17.78 centimeters.
2. "Big span" - the distance between the ends of the thumb and little finger (22-23 cm).
3. "Span with a somersault" ("span with a somersault") - a span with an increase in two joints of the index finger = 27-31 cm

“Verst” or as it was also called “field”. Used to measure long distances. Initially it indicated the length of the plowing path from one turn of the plow to another.Before Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the verst was equal to 1000 fathoms - the “boundary verst” (2.16 kilometers). Under Peter I verst already consisted of 500 fathoms and received the name “travel (five hundred) verst” (1066.8 meters).

"Verstoy" was also called a milestone on the road. The roads on which such “miles” were placed were called pillar roads. “Versts” or mileposts were usually painted with inclined stripes, so that it was easier to see, the number of versts was written on the post. Milestones began to be erected in Russia under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1645-1676). These pillars were especially tall on the way from Moscow to the village of Kolomenskoye. This is where the expression Kolomenskaya verst came from, which in a figurative sense characterizes very tall and thin people.

Fathom is one of the most common measures of length. It comes from the verb to reach (reach) - the length that can be reached with your hand. There were fathomed measuring ropes and wooden “foldings”. There are more than ten fathoms distinguished by type and name.

1. “Makhovaya fathom” is the distance between the ends of the fingers of an adult man’s widely spaced hands.
2. “Oblique (oblique) fathom” - the distance from the toe of the left foot to the end of the middle finger of the raised right hand. She is famous for the saying: “oblique fathoms in the shoulders,” which is used to describe people of heroic physique.
3. "City fathom" was equal to 284.8 centimeters
4. "Untitled" - 258.4 centimeters
5. "Great fathom" - 244 centimeters
6. "Greek fathom" - 230.4 centimeters
7. "Government fathom" - 217.6 centimeters
8. "Tsarskaya fathom" - 197.4 centimeters
9. "Church fathom" - 186.4 centimeters
10. "People's Fathom" - 176 centimeters
11. "Masonry fathom" - 159.7 centimeters
12. "Simple fathom" - 150.8 centimeters
13. "Small fathom" - 142.4 centimeters
14. "Sea fathom" - 182.88 centimeters
15. "Four arshin fathom" = 4 arshins = 284.48 centimeters
16. "Pipe fathom" - for measuring the length of pipes - 187 centimeters
17. “A fathom without a meter” is the greatest distance between the sole of the left foot and the end of the thumb of the raised right hand - 197.2 centimeters.

The cubit is a measure of length, the first mention of which dates back to the 11th century. Its numerical value was in the range from 10.25 to 10.5 vershok (46 - 47 centimeters). The elbow received its main distribution in trade. It was very convenient for merchants to measure their goods (this mainly concerned canvas, linen, fabrics) in this way.

Palm - the sixth part of the elbow (7.5 - 7.8 centimeters).

Vershok (half-vertex; quarter-vertex) - in modern terms approximately equal to 4.45 centimeters.

When determining human height, counting was carried out after two arshins (mandatory for a normal adult): if it was said that the person being measured was 14 vershoks in height, then this meant that he was 2 arshins 14 vershoks, i.e. 205 cm. The height of animals was measured in tops, and of trees - in arshins.

Measures of length (used in Russia after the Decree of 1835 and before the introduction of the metric system):

1 verst = 500 fathoms = 50 poles = 10 chains = 1.0668 kilometers

1 fathom = 3 arshins = 7 feet = 48 vershoks = 2.1336 meters

Volume measures

In Old Russian measures and in vessels used for drinking, the principle of volume ratio is 1: 2: 4: 8: 16.

The bucket was divided into 2 half-buckets or 4 quarters of a bucket or 8 half-quarters, as well as into mugs and cups. The volume of the bucket was 134.297 cubic inches.

Mug (the word means - for drinking in a circle) = 10 glasses = 1.23 liters.

Tub - height - 30-35 centimeters, diameter - 40 centimeters.

A handful is a palm with fingers folded into a boat. A large (kind, good) handful - folded so that it holds a larger volume. A handful is two palms joined together.

Balakir is a dugout wooden vessel, 1/4-1/5 in volume, a bucket.

Weights

The word "hryvnia" was used to designate both a weight and a monetary unit. This is the most common weight measure used in retail. It was also used for weighing metals, in particular gold and silver.

Who hasn't heard the saying: "The spool is small and expensive." The spool was originally identified with a gold coin. It was equal to 1/96 of a pound, or 4.27 grams in modern terms. In the old days, tea was sold using gold coins. In addition to the spools, the “octah” measure was used for its sale.

Berkovets - this measure of weight was used for weighing wax and honey. Its mass corresponded to a barrel of wax that one person could roll onto a merchant ship (163.8 kg).

A pound (from the Latin word pondus - weight, weight) was equal to 32 lots, 96 spools, 1/40 pood, in modern terms 409.50 g. Used in combinations: “not a pound of raisins”, “find out how much a pound of raisins is”. This measure was used by sugar traders.

Lot is a unit of mass measurement equal to three spools or 12.797 grams.

A fraction is a unit of mass equal to 1/96 of a spool or 0.044 grams.

Pud - (from the Latin pondus - weight, heaviness) is not only a measure of weight, but also a weighing device. When weighing metals, the pud was both a unit of measurement and a unit of counting.

Area measures

The main measure of area was considered to be a tithe, as well as shares of a tithe: half a tithe, a quarter (a quarter was 40 fathoms of length and 30 fathoms of latitude).

Land surveyors mainly used the official three-arshine fathom, equal to 2.1336 m.

Currency units

Quarter = 25 rubles
Gold coin = 5 or 10 rubles
Ruble = 2 half rubles = 100 kopecks
Tselkovy is the colloquial name for the metal ruble.
Fifty, fifty kopecks = 50 kopecks
Quarter = 25 kopecks
Two-kopeck = 20 kopecks.
Five-altyn = 15 kopecks
Pyatak = 5 kopecks.
Altyn = 3 kopecks
Dime = 10 kopecks
kidney = 1 half
2 money = 1 kopeck
1/2 copper money (half a coin) = 1 kopeck.
Grosh (copper penny) = 2 kopecks.

Polushka (otherwise half money) was equivalent to a quarter of a penny. This is the smallest unit in the ancient money account.

Ancient Russian measures of length, weight, volume

Since ancient times, our ancestors measured distance with themselves, with their bodies. This is convenient, and your hands and feet are always with you, you cannot “forget them at home.” The system of ancient Russian length measures included the following basic measures: verst, fathom, arshin, elbow, span and vershok.

STEP - average length of a human step = 71 cm. One of the oldest measures of length.

ARSHIN - an ancient Russian measure of length, equal in modern terms to 0.7112 m.

There are different versions of the origin of the arshin measure of length. Perhaps, initially, “arshin” denoted the length of a human step (about seventy centimeters, when walking on the plain, at an average pace) and was the basic value for others major measures determining lengths, distances (fathom, verst). The root "AR" in the word a rsh i n - in the Old Russian language (and in other neighboring ones) means "EARTH", "surface of the earth", and indicates that this measure could be used in determining the length of the path traveled on foot. There was another name for this measure - STEP. In practice, the count could be made in pairs steps of an adult ("small<простыми>fathoms"; one-two – one, one-two – two, one-two – three...), or in threes("official fathoms"; one-two-three - one, one-two-three - two...), and when measuring small distances in steps, step-by-step counting was used. Later, they also began to use, under this name, an equal value - the length of the arm.

For small measures of length the basic value was the measure used from time immemorial in Rus' - the “span”, from which, by eye, it was easy to obtain smaller shares - two vershok (1/2 span) or vershok (1/4 span).

SPAN (pyadnitsa) - an ancient Russian measure of length. SMALL SPAND - the distance between the ends of the spread thumb and index (or middle) fingers = 17.78 cm.
BIG SPAN - the distance between the ends of the thumb and little finger (22-23 cm).
SPAND WITH A TUMPLER ("span with a somersault", according to Dahl - "span with a somersault" s rkoy") - a span with the addition of two joints of the index club = 27-31 cm

VERST - Old Russian travel measure (its early name was “field”). This word originally referred to the distance traveled from one turn of the plow to another during plowing. The two names have long been used in parallel, as synonyms. "Verstoy" was also called a milestone on the road.
The size of the verst changed repeatedly depending on the number of fathoms included in it and the size of the fathom. Before Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, 1 verst was considered 1000 fathoms.

SAZHEN - one of the most common length measures in Rus'..

The name sazhen comes from the verb to reach (reach) - how far one could reach
hand. To determine the meaning of the ancient Russian fathom, a major role was played by the discovery of a stone on which the inscription was carved in Slavic letters: " In the summer of 6576 (1068) indictment 6 days, Prince Gleb measured... 10,000 and 4,000 fathoms"From a comparison of this result with the measurements of topographers, a fathom value of 151.4 cm was obtained. The results of measurements of churches and the meaning of Russian folk measures coincided with this value. There were fathom measuring ropes and wooden “folds” that were used in measuring distances and in construction.

“Makhovaya fathom” - 1.76 m, the distance between the ends of the fingers of an adult man’s widely spaced hands.

"Oblique fathom" - 2.48 m, the longest: the distance from the toe of the left foot to the end of the middle finger of the raised right hand

According to historians and architects, there were more than 10 fathoms and they had their own names, were incommensurable and not multiples of one another. Fathoms: city - 284.8 cm, untitled - 258.4 cm, great - 244.0 cm, Greek - 230.4 cm, state - 217.6 cm, royal - 197.4 cm, church - 186.4 cm, folk - 176.0 cm, masonry - 159.7 cm, simple - 150.8 cm, small - 142.4 cm and another one without a name - 134.5 cm (data from one source), as well as - courtyard, pavement.

ELBOW equal to the length of the arm from the fingers to the elbow (according to other sources - “the distance in a straight line from the elbow to the end of the extended middle finger”). The size of this ancient measure of length, according to various sources, ranged from 38 to 47 cm. Since the 16th century, it was gradually replaced by the arshin and in the 19th century it was almost not used.

Elbow is a native ancient Russian measure of length, known already in the 11th century. The value of the Old Russian cubit of 10.25-10.5 vershoks (average approximately 46-47 cm) was obtained from a comparison of measurements in the Jerusalem Temple

VERSHOK - a measure of length equal to the width of two fingers (index and middle). Equal to 1/16 arshin, 1/4 quarter. In modern terms - 4.44 cm. On
The name "Vershok" comes from the word "top"

Measures of volume.

Bucket

Bucket= 1/40 barrel = 10 cups = 30 pounds of water = 100 cups = 200 scales = 12 liters. These are iron, wooden or leather utensils, mostly cylindrical in shape, with ears or a bow for carrying. In everyday life, two buckets on the rocker should be in a “woman’s lift.” Division into smaller measures was carried out according to the binary principle: the bucket was divided into 2 half-buckets or 4 quarters of a bucket or 8 half-quarters, as well as into mugs and cups. The oldest “international” measure of volume is “handful”.

Until the middle of the 17th century. the bucket contained 12 mugs; in the second half of the 17th century. the so-called government bucket contained 10 mugs, and a mug contained 10 cups, so the bucket contained 100 cups. Then, according to the decree of 1652, the glasses were made three times larger than before (“three glasses of glasses”). The sales bucket held 8 mugs. The value of the bucket was variable, but the value of the mug was constant, 3 pounds of water (1228.5 grams). The volume of the bucket was 134.297 cubic inches.

Barrel

The barrel, as a measure of liquids, was used mainly in the process of trade with foreigners, who were prohibited from conducting retail trade in wine in small quantities. Equal to 40 buckets (492 l)

Most often, small barrels and kegs from 5 to 120 liters were used in peasant life. Large barrels could hold up to forty buckets (forty)

In the 15th century ancient measures were still common - golovazhnya, bow And cleaning. In the XVI-XVII centuries. along with quite common box And belly Vyatka grain measure is often found marten, Perm sapsa(measure of salt and bread), old Russian bast And sewing. ".

In everyday life and in trade, a variety of household vessels were used: cauldrons, jugs, pots, bratins, valleys. The significance of such household measures varied in different places: for example, the capacity of boilers ranged from half a bucket to 20 buckets. In the 17th century a system of cubic units based on the 7-foot fathom was introduced, and the term cubic (or "cubic") was also introduced. A cubic fathom contained 27 cubic arshins or 343 cubic feet; cubic arshin - 4096 cubic vershoks or 21952 cubic inches.

Mug (the word means “for drinking in a circle”) = 10 glasses = 1.23 l.

Modern faceted glass was previously called "doskan" ("planed boards"), consisting of fret-boards tied with rope around a wooden bottom.

Charka (Russian measure of liquid) = 1/10 shtofa = 2 scales = 0.123 l.

Endova
Wooden or metal utensils (often decorated with ornaments) used for serving drinks. It was a low bowl with a spout. The metal valley was made of copper or brass. Wooden valleys were made from aspen, linden or birch.

Leather bag (skin) – up to 60 l
Korchaga - 12 l
Nozzle - 2.5 buckets (Nogorod liquid measure, 15th century)
Tub - height of the vessel - 30-35 centimeters, diameter - 40 centimeters, volume - 2 buckets or 22-25 liters.
The box is made from solid pieces of bast, sewn together with strips of bast. The bottom and top cover are made of boards. Sizes – from small boxes to large chests of drawers
Balakir is a dugout wooden vessel with a volume of 1/4-1/5 buckets.

As a rule, in the central and western parts of Russia, measuring containers for storing milk were proportional to the daily needs of the family and were a variety of clay pots, pots, milk pans, lids, jugs, throats, milking bowls, birch bark with lids, containers, the capacity of which was approximately 1 /4- 1/2 buckets (about 3-5 l). The containers of makhotok, stavtsy, tuesk, in which fermented milk products were kept - sour cream, yogurt and cream, approximately corresponded to 1/8 of a bucket.

In Old Russian measures and in vessels used for drinking, the principle of volume ratio is 1: 2: 4: 8: 16.

Ancient volume measures:

1 cu. fathom = 9.713 cubic meters meters

1 cu. arshin = 0.3597 cubic meters meters

1 cu. vershok = 87.82 cubic meters. cm

1 cu. ft = 28.32 cu. decimeter (liter)

1 cu. inch = 16.39 cu. cm

1 cu. line = 16.39 cu. mm

1 quart is a little more than a liter.

Measures of volume of liquid and granular bodies:

1 quarter = 2.099 hectoliters = 209.9 l

1 garnets = 3.280 liters

Weights

There are many Russian sayings in which the word “arshin” appears. Even if you don’t know the meaning of this word, but remember Tyutchev’s poem, which says that it is impossible to measure Russia with an arshin, it immediately becomes clear that we are talking about a measure of length.

All dimensions are in man

Since ancient times, man has made measurements based on the structure of his own body. All known in Rus' are in one way or another connected with the length of any human limbs. The name “elbow” or “palm” speaks for itself. And in foreign languages ​​the same picture is observed. For example, “inch” is literally translated from Dutch as “thumb”, and the English “foot” is nothing more than “foot”. Depending on the purpose of the measurement - whether it is necessary to measure something small, or comparable to a person, or large distances - the units of measurement were chosen.

The basic concept of Russian counting in the mid-sixteenth century was the vershok, the length of which in today's units is 4.445 cm. Why such a fraction and not a whole number? We will talk about this a little later. If you ask the question “Arshin - how many vershoks is this?”, you need to go through the following chain. Four inches made up one quarter. Four quarters made up an arshin. These ratios allow you to say exactly how many centimeters are in an arshin. Exactly 71.12. And exactly three arshins in total equaled a fathom. And a thousand fathoms made one mile. Then, under Peter the Great, the number of fathoms in the verst was reduced to five hundred, which was slightly more than the current kilometer, but this is not what we are talking about now.

Europeanization of the arshin

When asked “Arshin - how many palms is this?” It should be clarified that when taking measurements, the “palm” was the width of the palm without the thumb. And exactly seven palms made one arshin. An inch was the width of a grown man's thumb. Peter the Great, adjusting all of Russia to European standards, brought all Russian counting units into ratio to inches. This unit of measurement was the minimum in many European countries. Its length was 2.54 centimeters. It was this concept that Peter the Great brought from Europe, reducing the minimum measurement in Russian counting. And if an arshin consisted of sixteen vershoks, then to the question “an arshin - how many inches is that?” Since the eighteenth century they began to answer: “Twenty-eight.” That is, one vershok was equal to 1.75 inches.

When did the arshin appear?

It is unclear exactly at what time the concept of “arshin” entered the Russian language. The concepts “elbow” and “span” were used back in the twelfth century, “fathom” - a century earlier. Mentions of the “arshin”, as well as the “top”, first appear only in the sixteenth century, although they have also firmly entered the lexicon. What is an arshin equal to? Initially, this was the name for the length of the arm - the distance from the fingertips to the shoulder. And this concept - either of Turkish or Persian origin - eventually replaced the “elbow” from everyday life. But neither the size of the elbow nor the size of the arshin was officially recorded. This allowed the merchant class to measure materials with their own arshin, which gave the expression a common meaning. Therefore, the second tsar from the Romanov dynasty, Alexei Mikhailovich, in order to avoid scandals and for the sake of replenishing his own treasury, finally answered the question “an arshin - how much is it?” He introduced a standard measure into use - the official yardstick.

It was branded on both sides with the government seal and was sold at a very high price for those times - seventy kopecks per unit. This was one of the reasons for the first rebellion during the reign of this king. It is curious that in the old days, when measuring human height, the count began after two arshins, that is, this was the minimum height of a normal adult. That is, they did not say that a person is two arshins and ten vershoks tall, but simply ten vershoks.

World standardization

When the volume of trade relations between countries increased significantly, standardization of measurements was required. The first in this matter were the French, who themselves only at the end of the eighteenth century introduced the standard of length - the “meter” - into their use. Having legislated this concept throughout its country, France initiated the signing of the Meter Convention. This convention was signed by representatives of seventeen leading world powers, including Russia.

After this, the meter gradually became an international unit of measurement, displacing local units. The official ratios of international units and local ones were laid down, for example, it was precisely indicated how many meters there are in an arshin. Russia finally switched to the metric system after the 1917 revolution. Only in sayings and in oral speech do old names sometimes pop up - span, arshin, verst.