Measurement

This is an account of various units of measure which were in use throughout the Westlands in various periods of time. In old Beleriand Sindarian units of measure were used as a accustomed in barter between the Sindar, Noldor, Edain the the Dwarves of the Ered Luin. The Númenóreans largely based their later standards of measure on these , with few modifications, and they became common along the western coasts of Middle-earth throughout the Second Age. In the Late Third Age most peoples of the westlands had accepted the units of measure as they were established by the kings of Gondor, though these were late modifications of the older númenórean royal standards.The Dark Lord Sauron had tried to establish standardized systems too within Mordor and the Eastern and Southern Domains under his control, though it is unknown how far they eventually were accepted among the Orcs and Men of Darkness.

area[]

acre- 1 fur x 1 ch or 4480 square yards; in the Shire: the area of land which a good Hobbit farmer can turn over an acre of land in an hour with two oxen and a steel-shod plow (about 12 rods or 192' on a side)
perch - 1 rod x 1 rod ( 5 1/2 yards)
pole -same as perch 161⁄2 feet or 192' in the shire
rood -1 fur x 1 rod
Zagirat - Mordorian Yoke (ca. 25 ares or 0.625 acres)

length[]

The early elves originally did not know fixed measutements, but compared lenghts and heights to plants, for example they called a height of 70-100 feet or 20-34 meters "tall as an elm".With the beginning of the Great Wandering they started to count in strides and footsteps.

Cable - 100 ftm
chain (ch) - 22 yards
Cord - A volume measure for cut wood. The Shire standard was 4' x 4' x 8' long, measured by a "cord" one rod long or or cordwain.
Dâl - late númenórean foot,almost exactly 30 cm ca. 12 inch
Dalg - ("Wave") mordorian measurement of length in Water; ca. 522 m or 570 yards
Daur - a league or 5000 rangar
Doram - mordorian Hand´s length ca. 9 in or 23 cm
ell -45 inches or ca. 3.75 foot
fathom (ftm) - six feet or ca. 1,83 m
finger's breadth - ca. 0,787402 in or 2 cm
foot (ft) - 12 in or ca. 30,48 cm (the late númenórean Dâl was almost exactly 30 cm)
Forvo - "right Hand"; Arnorian unit of measure, ca. 20 cm or 7,87402 in
furlong (fur) - acre's length
handsbreadth - ca. 7,5 in or 1/4 foot
hobbit-ell - about 24 inch
inch (in) - or 2,54 cm
Kamab - mordorian footlength; ca. 29 cm or 11 ½ in
lár - about 3 miles, or 4.8km
League (lea) - 5000 rangar or 5280 yards (ca. 4,83 km)
longmile - (lmi) ancient mile used by some Hobbits, ironically the "long mile" actually was shorter than the standard mile (ca. 1,27 km instead of 1,6)!
man's height - by late númenórean standarts 6 ft. 4 in. or 193 cm (the older Númenórean and Noldrian standard seems to have been ca. 7 ft or 2.13 m)
maqua - elvish (Eldarin) hand-length; ca. 21 cm or 8 in
mile (mi) - about 1,6 km
nail -2 1/4 inch
Nasta - "Spear-point" an old Elvish and númenórean unit of measure; ca 18 in or 46 cm
pôd - animal´s foot; in Dúnadan times ca. 5.5 in or 14 cm
quilta - "Waist" or "Girdle"; the width of a man´s girdle when closed around his waist as ideally desired. Old Dúnadan unit of measure ca. 31,5 in or 80 cm
raew - sindarian fathom, originally the mesh of a fishing net, ca. 3 cm or 1 in
ragme -old noldrian fathom, ca. 6 feet or 2.1 m
Ranga - ca. about 38in, or 96.5cm
rangwë - the High Eldarian and old Númenórean fathom, ca. 2 m
Rend - -a "run" mordorian unit of measure, 1,6 miles or ca. 2.6 km
rhaew - the late Dúnadan fathom as used in Arnor and Gondor, ca. 6 ft
Rod - Basic measure of ground. Shire farmers surveyed their land with a 16' rod, stick, or cord. An acre was thirteen rods on a side.
Sant - S. "Yard; the size of an average garden surrounding a Cottage or Villa ; in Númenórean times about 890x890 ft or 99 squareyards
Shakop - "staff", mordorian unit of measure, ca. 12 foot
Sorrlos - mordorian unit of length measure, a crow flight, ca. 40 miles
Tál - sindarian or late dúnadan foot ca. 12,04 in
Tala - Quendian unit of length, the length of the Sail of an old swanship ca. 40 feet (x40feet; the sails of the eldest swanships having been square).
thou (th) -0.0254 mm or 1/1000 in
yard (yd) - 36 inch or 91,44 cm
Wave -or "Rôs"; númenorean unit uf nautic measure; ca. 633 metres or 2077 feet
Zabislaw - mordorian league 2 km or ca. 1.2 miles

Time[]

amaurëa - dawn, early day
Anzurm -"big torch"; dwarvish unit of time, ca. 2 hours (time a great torch needs to burn down)
ára - dawn
arya - twelve hours, day
Aur - sunlight day, morning
Burku -"Axeblade"; dwarvish unit of time, ca. 3 hours (time it takes to forge a proper axe-blade)
calan - period of actual daylight
coranar - sun-round, year
dana - day (24 hours)
Day - usually a solar day or 24 hours
ennin - valian year; ca. 9.582 solar years
enquië - quendian six-day week
fann - the noldrian Solar year of ca. 365 solar days
fourthnight - 14 days/two weeks
glîn - "Eyeglint", ca. 1 second
Hour - 1/24 of a solar day
idhrinn -the sindarian year circle or Harvest-year of ca. 60 six-day weeks or lefnor
Ilakhad - "oil-lamp"; dwarvish unit of time, ca. 14 hours (time a small oil-lamp needs to burn down)
în - the Sindarian Year; sometimes applied to the Noldrian Solar-year
kainendan - Valian fortnight (14 days)
lá - the old Eldarin Day in the Age of Stars; ca. twelve hours or a Day of the two trees
Ladru -"waxen torch"; dwarvish unit of time, ca. 0,5 hours (time a simple wax- torch needs to burn down)
Lakhad -"miner's lamp"; dwarvish unit of time, ca. 48 hours (time a miner's lamp needs to burn down)
lath - the old Noldorian Year, corresponding to the Valian Year of Year of the Two trees of 1000 Valian days or 12,000 Valian hours
lefnor - sindarian six-day week
lemnar - valian five-day week
loa - blooming, Elvish solar year
lúmë - the dark period or time of the Day
Manan -"light day"; dwarvish unit of time, ca. 12 hours (the light half of a day)
minuial - "morrowdim", the time near dawn, when the star fade
minute - 1/60 of a solar hour
Month - see: months
Nuz -"sword-blade"; dwarvish unit of time, ca. 50 hours (time needed to forge a proper sword)
Otsola - valian seven-day week
Otsolë - Númenorean seven-day Week
ré - full day (sunset to sunset); 24 hours
sana - day (24 hours)
second - 1/60 minute
Tatim - "breathing"; dwarvish unit of time, ca. 45 seconds (time it takes to take a proper breath)
Udanak - "great candle"; dwarvish unit of time, ca. 60 hours (time a great lantern needs to burn down)
Week - see:week
Year - see:year
yén - Elvish long year (144 solar years)

volume[]

barrel - 139-163 l
bushel - 8 gallons
cask-60 gallons
gallon (gal) -10 lbs, 4.54 kg, 4.54 l,
gill (gi) - ca. 1/4 pint
Grum - "skull cup"; mordorian unit of measure ca. 1,5 l or 3.3 gallons
hogshead-46-64 gallons
Jar - a Jar of Beer in Bree, ca. 2 pints
peck - ca. 2 gallons
pint (pt) -1/8 gallon, 1/2 quart, 4 gills, 20 ouz, ca. 568 ml.In the Shire one-half of a quart measure, the standard size of a serving of beer for Men and Hobbits.
pipe-126 gallons
pottle-1/2 gall8n
quart (qt) -2 pints
Suith - eldarian unit of measurement, a small bottle or Phial , ca. 0.2 pints or 1.25 ml
tun-208-256 gallons
Yulda - Cup or chalice; old elvish unit of measure ca. 1 l or 35 liquid ounzes

Weight[]

dal -elven unit of measure ca. 286 stone or 4000 pound
gond -originally sindarian unit of measure, ca. 6.5 lbs; in late Dúnadan Times (Arnor and Gondor) ca. 14 lbs
grain (gr) -ca 65 mg
Gur - mordorian "stone", ca. 9 kg or 20 lbs
lasse - elvish unit of weight; a leaf´s weight ca. 5 gr or 77 grain; used by apothecarys, Alchemists etc. for very fine measurement
lunga - late númenorean unit of measure, ca. 2 lbs
mald - "Pound", originally a Sindarian unit of measure of ca. 330 grams or 7.25 lbs; in later Times the standard númenórean piund was ca. 454 grams or approx. 1 modern imperial pound
man's weighth - in late Dúnadan times ca. 90 kg or 200 lbs
ondo -Eldarian or Noldrian Unit, "Stone"; ca. 33 lbs or 15 kg
ounce (oz) - ca. 1.73–1.83 cubic inches, 28.4–30 ml, ca 28 grams
pound (lb) -ca. 454 grams (or
quessë -old elvish unit of weight; a feather´s weight ca. 0.55 gr or 7.7 grain; used by apothecarys, Alchemists etc. for very fine measurement
stone (st)- 14 pounds or ca. 6.35 kg
talka - the weight o common man could lift; in late Arnorian and gondorian times a common unit of measure ca. 90 lbs
talma - a common elven unit of measure ca. 2.2 lbs or 1 kg
ton -2240 lbs

Temperature[]

The Eldar did not know or use any unit or system of temperature measurenent instead using relative categories such as ringa ("cold"), aurindë ("pleasant warmth") , or aurina ("hot") among others.

The Númenóreans were the first to invent a type of "air-water-tube" they used as a primitive thermometer and it continued to be the only real device ever used throughout the Ages by the few Scholars or wealthy Nobles who were interested in such curiosities, although it was generally believed the Khazad knew and made use of a much similar device, though they held more detailed knowledge about it in secret.

The númenorean unit of temperature measurenent was called kîdi, "Spin" (symbolized as ⊙).The Númenóreans called the freezing point of water "munta" (Q."nothing"), as their early devices stopped to work as soon as the water froze in the tube, though they later eventually managed to solve the problem by using alcoholic solutions which enabled them to measure temperatures below "nothing".Water became tûyû(Ad. "Fog" or rather "Steam") around 100 Kîdi or ⊙, thus it is believed that one ⊙ or "kîdi" may have been very close to modern 1° Celsius.

see:

Notes[]

Throughout his works Professor Tolkien only gives us very vague information about the Units of measure used throughout Middle-Earth.He does refer to the Númenórean Ranga, Daur, lár and man's height and gives exact definitions of these.In other places he mentions the mile, Furlong, League, Ell, Fathom, foot, yard, ton, pint, pound and ounze, though he seems to use the common imperial british standard. In the Sketches for the Lord of the Rings he briefly mentions the Hobbit-Ell, obviously a shorter unit of measure, different from the imperial standard and the long-mile, seemingly for a stretch far shorter than a modern mile. For this article Terms and names from Tolkien´s invented languages were researched and ancient historical units of measurement consulted to fill out gaps in the legendarium and create credible and practical standards.

References[]

MERP:The Shire