Obsolete Russian units of measurement

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.^[1] Until Peter the Great the system also used Cyrillic numerals, and only in the 18th century did Peter the Great replace it with the Hindu-Arabic numeral system.^[1]

Length

The basic unit is the Russian cubit, called the arshin, which has been in use since the 16th century. It was standardized by Peter the Great in the 18th century to measure exactly twenty-eight English inches (71.12 cm). Thus, 80 vershoks = 20 piads = 5 arshins = 140 English inches (355.60 cm).^[2]

A piad (пядь, “palm”, “five”) or chetvert (че́тверть, “quarter”) is a hand span, the distance between ends of the spread thumb and index finger.

Alternative units:

• Swung sazhen (маховая сажень, makhovaya sazhen’, distance between tips of arms stretched sidewards) = 1.76 m
• Skewed, or oblique sazhen (косая сажень, kosaya sazhen’, distance between tip of a raised arm and a tip of an opposite leg slightly put away) = 2.48 m
• Double versta or border versta, (межевая верста, mezhevaya versta), used to measure land plots and distances between settlements = 2 verstas (comes from an older standard for versta)

Area

• Desiatina (desyatina : десяти́на, “a tenth” or “ten”), approximately one hectare
  • Treasury/official desiatina казённая десяти́на, kazionnaya desiatina) = 10,925.4 m² = 117,600 ft² = 2.7 acres = 2,400 square sazhen
  • Proprietor's (владе́льческая десяти́на, vladelcheskaya desiatina) = 14,567.2 m² = 156,800 ft² = 3,200 square sazhen
    • 3 proprietor's desiatinas = 4 official desiatinas

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.

Dry measures

Liquid measures

Weight/mass

Two systems of weight were in use, an ordinary one in common use, and an apothecaries' system.

Ordinary system

The 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. It is also popular in the modern fitness industry of the 21st century, as the pood is used when referencing the weight of a kettlebell, a Russian invention, especially in CrossFit.

Apothecaries' system

The Imperial Russian apothecaries' weight was defined by setting the grain (Russian: гран) to be exactly seven-fifths of a dolia. The only unit name shared between the two was the funt (pound), but the one in the apothecaries' system is exactly seven-eighths of the ordinary funt.

Idiomatic expressions

The obsolete units of measurement survived in Russian culture in a number of idiomatic expressions and proverbs, for example:

• Слышно за версту: (It) can be heard a verst away - about something very loud
• Бешеной собаке семь вёрст не крюк.: 7 versts is not a detour for a mad dog - about excessive energy or hassle
• Милому дружку семь вёрст не околица: 7 verst is not too far for a darling friend
• Верста коломенская: Kolomna verst - about a very tall and slim person (in this case the reference is to the verst pole road mark: (verstovoy stolb))
• Косая сажень в плечах: Skew sazhen in the shoulders - about a strong, wide-shouldered person
• Мерить всех на свой аршин. To gauge everybody by the same [literally: one's own] yardstick
• Проглотить аршин. To swallow an arshin (yardstick) - about standing very straight and still
• От горшка два вершка. Two vershok above the pot. - Very young kid
• Сто пудов. - Hundred poods - very large amount. In modern colloquial Russian it is used in a generic meanings of "very much" and "very", as well as "most surely";^[3] The adjective 'stopudovy' and the adverb 'stopudovo' derive from this expression, although it is more likely a mangled contraction of "100%" (stoprocentny).
• Семь пядей во лбу. Seven 'pyad' across the forehead - very smart
• Не семь пядей во лбу. Not seven 'pyad' across the forehead - not so smart
• Мал золотник, да до́рог. A zolotnik is small, but expensive : when quality rather than quantity is important
• Идти семимильными шагами. To walk in 7-mile steps - Any kind of very fast progress, e.g., of improvement
• Узнать, почём фунт лиха. To learn how much a pound of likho costs - To experience something bad
• Ни пяди земли (не уступить). Do not give up (even) a pyad of land
• Съесть пуд соли (вместе с кем-либо). To eat a 'pood' of salt (with somebody) - To have a long common experience with somebody (with the implication "to know someone well")

See also

• Petrograd Standard

External links

• Belobrov V. A. Russian system of measures of length (brief description)
• Belobrov V. A. The role of Peter the Great in the development of Russian system of measures of length

References