Swedish units of measurement
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In Sweden, a common system for weights and measures was introduced by law in 1665. Before that, there were a number of local variants. The system was slightly revised in 1735. In 1855, a decimal reform was instituted that defined a new Swedish inch as 1/10 foot. It did not last long, because the metric system was subsequently introduced in 1889. Up to the middle of the 19th century there was a death penalty for falsifying weights or measures.
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[edit] Length
- aln – Forearm (cf. Ell) (pl. alnar). After 1863, 59.37 cm. Before that, from 1605, 59.38 cm as defined by king Carl IX of Sweden in Norrköping 1604 based on the Rydaholmsalnen.
- famn – Fathom, 3 alnar.
- kvarter – Quarter, 1/4 aln
- fot – Foot, 1/2 aln. Before 1863, the Stockholm fot was the commonly accepted unit, at 29.69 cm.
- linje – Line, after 1863 1/10 tum, 2.96 mm. Before that, 1/12 tum or 2.06 mm.
- mil – Mile, also lantmil. From 1699, defined as a unity mile of 18000 aln or 10.69 km. The unified mile was meant to define the suitable distance between inns.
- nymil – New mile from 1889, 10 km exactly. Commonly used to this day, only referred to as mil.
- kyndemil – The distance a torch will last, approx 16 km
- skogsmil – Also rast, distance between rests in the woods, approx 5 km.
- fjärdingsväg – 1/4 mil
- stenkast – Stone's throw, approx 50 m, used to this day as an approximate measure.
- ref – 160 fot, for land measurement, was 100 fot after 1855.
- stång – 16 fot, for land measurement
- tum – Thumb (inch), after 1863 1/10 fot, 2.96 cm. Before that, 1/12 fot or 2.474 cm.
- tvärhand – Hand, 4 inches.
[edit] Area
- kannaland – 1000 fot², or 88.15 m²
- kappland – 154.3 m².
- spannland – 16 kappland
- tunnland – 2 spannland
- kvadratmil – Square mil, 36 million square favnar, from 1739.
[edit] Volume
- pot – Pot (pl pottor), 0.966 l
- tunna – 2 spann
- ankare – Liquid measure, 39.26 l
- ohm – Also åm, 155 pottor
- storfavn – 3.77 m³
- kubikkfavn – 5.85 m³
[edit] Weight
- skeppspund – Ships pound, 20 lispund or 170.03 kg.
- bismerpund – 12 skålpund, 5.101 kg.
- lispund – 20 skålpund
- skålpund – Pound, 0.42507 kg
- mark – 1/2 skålpund or 212.5 g. Used from the Viking era, when it was approx 203 g.
- ort – 4.2508 g
[edit] Nautical
- kabellängd – Initially 100 famnar or 178 m, Later, a distansminut or 1/10 nautical mile.
- kvartmil – Quarter mile, 1852 m, identical to nautical mile.
- sjömil – Sea mile, 4 kvartmil, 7408 m
[edit] Monetary
- daler – From 1534, Swedish thaler. From 1873, replaced by the krona.
- riksdaler – From 1624, 1 1/2 daler, from 1681 2 daler, from 1715 3 daler, from 1776 6 daler
- skilling – From 1776, 1/48 riksdaler
- mark – From 1534, 1/3 daler. From 1604, 1/4 daler.
- öre – From 1534, 1/8 mark. Subsequently replaced by the skilling, but from 1855 reintroduced as 1/100 riksdaler.
