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The term, yard derives from the Old English gerd, gyrd etc., which was used for branches, staves and measuring rods. [5] It is first attested in the late 7th century laws of Ine of Wessex, [6] where the "yard of land" mentioned [6] is the yardland, an old English unit of tax assessment equal to 1 ⁄ 4 hide.
Queen Elizabeth I (reigned from 1558 to 1603) changed, by statute, the mile to 5280 feet (~1609 m) or 8 furlongs, a furlong being 40 rod (unit)s (~201 m) of 5.5 yards (~5.03 m) each. The introduction of the yard (0.9144 m) as a unit of length came later, but its origin is not definitely known.
The international yard and pound agreement of July 1959 defined the length of the international yard in the United States and countries of the Commonwealth of Nations as exactly 0.9144 meters. Consequently, since a foot is one third of a yard, the international foot is defined to be equal to exactly 0.3048 meters.
For measuring length, the U.S. customary system uses the inch, foot, yard, and mile, which are the only four customary length measurements in everyday use. From 1893, the foot was legally defined as exactly 1200 ⁄ 3937 m (approximately 0.304 8006 m). [13] Since July 1, 1959, the units of length have been defined on the basis of 1 yd = 0.9144 ...
Units of surface measurement Unit Greek name Equal to Modern equivalent Description pous πούς: 0.095 m 2 (1.02 sq ft) square foot hexapodēs ἑξαπόδης: 36 podes 3.42 m 2 (36.8 sq ft) square six-foot akaina ἄκαινα: 100 podes 9.50 m 2 (102.3 sq ft) rod hēmiektos ἡμίεκτος: 833 + 1 ⁄ 3 podes 79.2 m 2 (853 sq ft) half ...
The basic unit of length in the imperial and U.S. customary systems is the yard, defined as exactly 0.9144 m by international treaty in 1959. [2] [5] Common imperial units and U.S. customary units of length include: [6] thou or mil (1 ⁄ 1000 of an inch) inch (25.4 mm) foot (12 inches, 0.3048 m) yard (3 feet, 0.9144 m)
Using the value 296 mm (11.7 in) for the Roman foot, an amphora quadrantal can be computed at approximately 25.9 L (5.7 imp gal; 6.8 US gal), so a sextarius (by the same method) would theoretically measure 540.3 ml (19.02 imp fl oz; 18.27 US fl oz), which is about 95% of an imperial pint (568 ml).
Under the 1300 Composition of Yards and Perches, one of the statutes of uncertain date that was notionally in force until the 1824 Weights and Measures Act, "3 barly cornes dry and rounde" [2] [3] were to serve as the basis for the inch and thence the larger units of feet, yards, perches and thus of the acre, an important unit of area.